Hurley's Gold

3M Earplugs Settlement/Lawsuit

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  • TreyG-20

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    I keep seeing these commercials from different law firms for those who served between 2003-2015 and were issued the 3M earplugs. 3M paid out 9.1 million last year as a settlement for knowingly selling defective earplugs. Of course none of that money actually went to soldiers and veterans who have hearing loss and Tinnitus.

    I have Tinnitus and had a hearing profile showing that. Also several audiology reports in my medical records showing that it did get worse during my service 2007-14.

    Has anyone contacted one of these firms yet to start the process? Just trying to figure out what maybe needed before hand. Medical records etc..

    I do not currently have a disability rating from the VA as I prefer to avoid that place at all costs. Even though I'm very sure I would get some sort of disability compensation (non-hearing related) if I made a claim.
     
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    Kar98

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    The lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas — Waco Division.

    One hundred lawsuits were filed by two Houston-based law firms: Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Aziz and Bell, Rose & Cobos.

    You wanna get in contact with one of these two, I think.
     

    Dredens

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    All I know is I'm tired of seeing the ads for it almost nonstop on darn near every social media platform I'm on.
     

    F350-6

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    I'd be very wary of joining the class action suit. As olddawg said, you'll only get pennies.

    I was part of a class action suit once. The check I ended up with was less than $1.

    I don't blame you on avoiding the VA. Maybe it's worth talking to a local lawyer and see if 3M will settle with you directly. Might include a non-disclosure or something, but so what? Might be something that's not worth your time.
     

    benenglish

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    I'd be very wary of joining the class action suit. As olddawg said, you'll only get pennies.
    It depends on the industry.

    My sister has a long history of severe health problems and has taken a huge number of medications over the years. Some of them have been the subject of class action suits and she routinely joins those suits. Well over a dozen settlement checks have shown up over the last couple of decades, usually for nominal money but sometimes for hundreds.

    So medical class action suits are sometimes worth a bit of money.

    OTOH, I once joined a suit having to do with some appliance, IIRC. The payout was less than a dollar. :)
     

    F350-6

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    It depends on the industry.

    ....... usually for nominal money but sometimes for hundreds.

    So medical class action suits are sometimes worth a bit of money.

    Unfortunately when it comes to medical issues, hundreds is about equivalent to a dollar with the cost of meds and treatment these days. And I wouldn't be surprised if the lawyers involved got 6 figures each or more out of the settlement so your sister could get her hundreds.

    That's why I don't care for class action stuff. If a lawyer is going to get a percent of my money in a claim, I don't want that number to start with 99.something
     

    F350-6

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    This is exactly what I am wondering. I have not heard of any cases being settled and was hoping someone maybe farther along in the process. I make okay money, but any income is welcome.

    I've heard of class action stuff having individual cases settled before the class action stuff gets finalized. I think they do this (and this is just my opinion) so they can go before the judge and say, we've already set a precedent in court cases for this item, including lawyers fees. We just need to multiply this number by the cases in the class action and the lawyers fees will already be paid based on past suits that were settled.

    Remember, it's not the company itself you're dealing with in court, but their insurance company. And the insurance companies like to settle or at least arbitrate.
     

    gshayd

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    I have been watching this and I already draw some disability from the hearing loss and tinnitus. The Va hands out some pretty Dandy Hearing Aids. Mine have Bluetooth and hook up with my cellphone so before I retired in especially boring meetings I could hook up to my Sirius XM on the cellphone and listen to some tunes. If you had to buy these things I would say they would be in the thousands. You get a new set every 5 years. I asked the lady and she also hooked me up with a receiver for my cable TV that I could cut the sound off on the speakers and listen through my hearing aids. So while I am not interested in any settlement that is going to pay you a few dollars. I think the VA did me right on the hearing aids + I get batteries free too.
     

    F350-6

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    I have been watching this and I already draw some disability from the hearing loss and tinnitus. The Va hands out some pretty Dandy Hearing Aids. Mine have Bluetooth and hook up with my cellphone so before I retired in especially boring meetings I could hook up to my Sirius XM on the cellphone and listen to some tunes. If you had to buy these things I would say they would be in the thousands. You get a new set every 5 years. I asked the lady and she also hooked me up with a receiver for my cable TV that I could cut the sound off on the speakers and listen through my hearing aids. So while I am not interested in any settlement that is going to pay you a few dollars. I think the VA did me right on the hearing aids + I get batteries free too.

    I didn't know they had become so advanced. Sounds like you've got decent treatment so far.

    My only suggestion would be not to crank up the volume too loud. My opinion, which has no scientific background or training, is that hearing loss lots of times includes more loss in certain ranges than others. Hearing aids on the other hand crank up the volume across all ranges.

    Everyone I know that has hearing aids, always gets stronger and stronger ones as the yeas go on. Perhaps that's just natural aging. But I wonder if cranking up the volume across the good ranges so you can hear the bad ones doesn't make the hearing degrade faster.

    Bluetooth is cool tough. Can you hook it up to google translate and listen in on someone speaking other languages in real time?
     

    gshayd

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    I didn't know they had become so advanced. Sounds like you've got decent treatment so far.

    My only suggestion would be not to crank up the volume too loud. My opinion, which has no scientific background or training, is that hearing loss lots of times includes more loss in certain ranges than others. Hearing aids on the other hand crank up the volume across all ranges.

    Everyone I know that has hearing aids, always gets stronger and stronger ones as the yeas go on. Perhaps that's just natural aging. But I wonder if cranking up the volume across the good ranges so you can hear the bad ones doesn't make the hearing degrade faster.

    Bluetooth is cool tough. Can you hook it up to google translate and listen in on someone speaking other languages in real time?
    dunno...... All I ever needed were the words for beer and bathroom and American Dollars. The last Deployment I bought a case of local cigarettes. I learned that most folks couldn't afford a whole pack of cigarettes. So I would lay a pack on the dashboard. I had to go through two American Checkpoints and 4 local military checkpoints. Every Checkpoint I passed through I would give the lowly gate guards some and tell them to share with the LT on the gate. The NCO in charge at the last gate got a whole pack. It was amazing there would be four or five vehicles at the last gate and the security folks would wave me up talk for a few secs. Then I could take care of Biz outside of the gate.
     
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