TLDR (see below for more detail on each section):

A. LAWSUIT INFORMATION CENTER. Good resource for the times you don’t hear anything from your own Attorney. (You know, like pretty much ALL the time! :-)

B. VIDEO WITH ATTORNEY MIKE BURNS. He worked on settlement, and breaks it down.

C. VIDEO WITH ATTORNEY JEFF MARION. He talked about how hard it will be to opt out.

D. ARCHER SETTLMENT COMPANY. These guys are getting paid big bucks to sort the settlement all out it looks like…

E. SPECIAL MASTER IS ATTORNEY JOHN PERRY. If you don’t take the “expedited payout”, this is the guy ranking cases by some sort of points system.

F. SEC FILING. For/from this 3M settlement. Important to Wall Street perhaps?

G. ATTORNEYS FEES. Time to re-negotiate!?!

H. PACER. This is like the legal version of MyHealthEVet. You can start by checking to see if they filed your case, and find out who your Lawyer is (if you forgot), etc.

I. HEARING LOSS DEGREE OF DAMAGE. My thoughts.

J. WEBSITE WITH THE ACTUAL COURT FILINGS: Super handy if you can wade through legal writing (aka: legalese)! And free!

K. YOU ARE ALREADY INVOLVED IN THE LAWSUIT, WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT? Reach out to your Attorney!

L. YOU ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THE LAWSUIT YET, WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT? You only have a few days to act (at least on this settlement...BUT will there be more…?)

M. MISC: Additions after the fact!

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If you have other helpful information or websites, please post!

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A. LAWSUIT INFORMATION CENTER:

The Lawsuit Information Center has done the best job of keeping folks up to date on this case the past few years. They are reporting $8333 per client is the starting point for the settlement. Their website is here, and the comments at the bottom are excellent:

https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/13-million-3m-earplug-verdict.html.

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B. VIDEO WITH ATTORNEY MIKE BURNS:

$8333 (as noted above) becomes $5000 when you take 40% lawyer’s fee off. So, I think this is where Mike Burns (Attorney who worked on settlement) gets this number from in the next video.

He also talks about 3 “lanes” – expedited, review and opt out (he may use slightly different terms).

He also talks about settlements at $5k, $10k, $16k and $24k. Based on my $5k math above, I suspect all four of these numbers are *after* Atty’s fees (which are typically 40%).

GREAT video, please watch if you haven’t already!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9reeN-q9LbI

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C. VIDEO WITH ATTORNEY JEFF MARION:

One more video (this one is short). This Attorney talks about the fact that it will be difficult for many to go Option 3 (opt out), as there is language in MANY retainer agreements saying that if your Law Firm thinks this is a good deal, then they can force you to take it. (My retainer does NOT say this thankfully. If you don’t have a copy of what you signed, get one from your law firm ASAP, this is *super* important if you are thinking about opting out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JeNxyPpsnA

So, if you think you will opt out and take a shot at this yourself, you might be wise to start saving evidence online now before 3M has everybody scrub it from the web. There are a lot of firms with good information up about this case. It appears that part of “opting out” may require your current law firm to no longer represent you, and I’m sure all the big firms involved in this settlement are tied to this agreement as well. Your best bet then may be some new law school graduate in combination with yourself most likely?!?

If you are thinking about "opting out", please review (especially the second half) of Judge Roger's Case Management Order 57, link below.:

https://www.uscourts.gov/courts/flnd/3M-Case_Management_Order_No_57_Docket_Control_Order_and_Exhibits_1-3.pdf

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D. ARCHER SETTLEMENT COMPANY:

Archer is going to run the settlement. Look for info. from them, don’t blow them off!

https://www.archersystems.com/mass-tort/

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E. SPECIAL MASTER IS ATTORNEY JOHN PERRY:

John Perry is going to be the Special Master. So, he’ll be the Attorney running the 2nd option above (review).

https://www.acctm.org/jperry/

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F. SEC FILING:

Some think the SEC filing is important, it can be found here:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/66740/000006674023000073/a829238kex-991.htm

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G. ATTORNEY'S FEES:

Note that you can inquire whether its possible to re-negotiate the fee you agreed to pay your Attorney. I read one comment online that said they were going to threaten to “opt out” unless their Attorney cut their high rate, which they deemed unfair given the rather disappointing settlement numbers... (Then their soon to be former Attorney would get 100% of $0…!) See more ideas here:

https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/contingency-fee.html

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H. PACER:

You can search to see if your law firm filed for you here in PACER. It will require a credit card to search immediately, and it appears each search costs 10 cents. You can also search for rulings, etc. from the case in here. (Super helpful if you forgot who your law firm is/was!)

https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/find-case-pacer

For a complete record of the filings in this matter to date, please log into PACER and review the master MDL docket, Case No. 3:19md2885

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I. HEARING LOSS DEGREE OF DAMAGE:

There is a lot of talk online about service connection % for hearing loss being a consideration. While this may be true, keep in mind that the VBA’s hearing loss compensation chart is considered FUBAR by most of us. The medical community rates hearing loss on a continuum from mild to moderate to severe to profound, this is what VHA uses in your medical chart. I have profound hearing loss in both ears, and rated the square next to compensable (many years ago), so I got 0%. (I won’t kick the bear for the obvious reasons...) But I found it interesting that Attorney Mike Burns used this exact language in his video - specifically "mild" and "moderate".

Here is a primer on degrees of hearing loss, which I hope / believe will be the criteria, not the FUBAR VBA chart.

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/hearing-loss-causes#:~:text=Degrees%20of%20Hearing%20Impairment,-To%20find%20out&text=People%20with%20normal%20hearing%20are,from%2056%20to%2070%20decibels

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J. WEBSITE WITH THE ACTUAL COURT FILINGS:

https://www.flnd.uscourts.gov/3m-products-liability-litigation-mdl-no-2885

You can read the settlement, the case management orders, etc. You can dig into the previous year’s (2019>2022) rulings, etc. by using PACER.

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K. YOU ARE ALREADY INVOLVED IN THE LAWSUIT, WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?

It looks like folks already involved have until 9/12 to update their contact information with their Attorney’s. Probably helpful to let them know if you got married or divorced since first signing up as well. They will be reaching out to you soon. Reach out to them if you have a new email and/or cell phone though!!

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L. YOU ARE NOT ALREADY INVOLVED IN THE LAWSUIT, WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?

It also looks like folks NOT already involved have until 9/12 to throw their hat in the ring and get signed up. Per a review of Reddit, it appears these firms may still be accepting people.

Yes, the more that get signed up, the less there is for you and me. But if they got injured just like you and me, they deserve to be in here too.

https://www.johnsonlawgroup.com/practice-areas/military-earplug-lawsuit/

https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYRnCLi9Iww (Jan Dils Attorneys at Law)

https://www.bbbattorneys.com/3m-earplug-lawsuit

https://www.awkolaw.com/litigation-areas/product-liability/3m-defective-earplugs-lawsuit/

https://shunnarah.com/defective-medical-devices/3m-earplug-injury/

No, you won’t have time to get service connected for hearing loss or tinnitus if you haven’t already. But evidently you can claim tinnitus w/o medical evidence (see Mike Burns video above), and you can certainly get your DD214 showing the correct timeframe served prior to 9/12.

For those that have a problem with their fellow Veterans arriving late to the main event, remember:

“Leave No One Behind! - Not on a Jungle Trail - Not on a Desert Trail - Not on a PAPER Trail”.

Then go ahead and downvote me....just don't let the door hit your Blue Falcon Badge on the way out!

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M. MISC.

Here is a PDF showing the Judge's timeline:

https://www.flnd.uscourts.gov/sites/flnd/files/3M-Settlement%20Implementation%20Timeline.pdf

Here is the current "master website" for the injured, LOTS of great information on there!

https://www.3mearplugmdl.com/filings-and-key-documents

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Lastly, I Am Not A LAWYER (IANAL) and this is NOT legal advice!

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Good luck to all!