3M Off Hook for $3.4 Million in Interest on Earplug Verdict

3M Co. can avoid paying several years’ interest—amounting to $3.4 million on a $15 million jury award—to a U.S. Army veteran who blamed the company’s combat earplugs for his hearing loss, a federal court in Florida ruled.

Ronald Sloan isn’t entitled to prejudgment interest on his compensatory damages, Judge M. Casey Rodgers said Monday for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Sloan also obtained $40 million punitive damages as part of the jury verdict, but didn’t seek interest on that amount.

Rodgers, who oversees the multidistrict litigation over Combat Arms version 2 earplugs made by 3M ...