3M Settlement Announcement

On August 29, 3M Company agreed to pay over $6 billion dollars to resolve the nearly 250,000 lawsuits filed by United States Military Service Members, Veterans, and commercial users (including military contractors), alleging hearing related injuries from use of the CAE for hearing protection. The Settlement also involves thousands of similar CAE claims in Minnesota state court.

Although the total amount of the settlement has been agreed on, some of the details are still being finalized and there will be numerous subsequent steps WITH QUICK DEADLINES required for you to receive compensation.

The Court has issued imminent deadlines that we must focus on meeting in the coming days and weeks in order to ensure your ability to participate in the settlement. Please remain patient as we endeavor to meet those deadlines while doing our best to keep you apprised of the fast-moving developments in your settlement. As you know, this is the largest MDL in history. While we are getting ever closer to its conclusion, we are now down to the final months of work to satisfy the terms of the settlement. Please understand that no payouts have yet occurred, and we do not yet know what each claimant will receive. All work is currently focused on the administrative tasks of identifying and registering all eligible claimants and satisfying the Court’s orders related to the settlement administration. Firm details regarding individual payouts are still months away.

As soon as tomorrow, you will start receiving communications from our office with requests for certain information to be provided and forms to be completed. Again, the Court has imposed several very quick deadlines required to qualify for settlement so please be on the lookout for our communications and respond as quickly as possible and by the deadlines we provide.

Attached to this notice is an authorization YOU MUST execute and return so that we can request DOEHRS data on your behalf and hopefully obtain additional information that will be beneficial to you in the settlement process.

Please answer 1-4 in section I, then sign and date section III. If there is a representative, section III question 12 will need to be filled out.

Please make note of the following information on how to fill out the authorization:

• Section I, Name: This must be your formal name used with the military. It can’t be nicknames;
• Section I, DOB: Must be in the format “YYYYMMDD”;
• Section I, SSN: Must include all 9 digits;
• Section I, Period of treatment: Must be in the format “YYYYMMDD”. The first date should be the date you entered the military. If you don’t remember the precise date, then January 1 of the year you joined should be entered. We have already entered the end date of “present” the ensure we receive the most up-to-date information; and,
• Section III, Date: Must be in the format “YYYYMMDD”.
• Submission: Please mail or email this document back to us immediately.

All of the other necessary sections have been prefilled by our firm and should not be altered. If you prefer, you can complete this authorization by visiting the following site: https://my.insuresign.com/pre-alpha/signing?d=ZjA3NjkwZWYtMWNjMS00MGZmLTljZTctNTE2ZGE5NWY3MGJiJnJ1ZkBteWluc3VyZXNpZ24uY29t

We have been made aware the most important documents needed to prove you suffered hearing injuries due to the use of CAE earplugs are as follows:

• DD-214;
• VA Ratings Decision;
• Blue Button Report; and,
• DOEHRS data, which will be requested using the authorization explained above.

We have requested the above documents many times throughout this litigation. If you have NOT yet provided them to our office, please do so immediately. These documents are required to support your claim.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at: 1-888-553-0155 or 3Mearplugs@wattsguerra.com.

Our primary form of communication to you will be by email and text. If you are not capable of receiving email or text, we will contact you by mail and/or phone.

All of this is an excellent development in your case. We will be in touch in the coming days, weeks and months with details concerning the settlement. Thank you for your cooperation