93.1 KISS FM – Ask A Lawyer, Part 18-2

Announcer: You’re listening to Mike and Tricia on 93.1 KISS FM.

Tricia: Okay, just because this is a story that we’ve been following all morning the situation at UTEP, the campus remains on lockdown. Because if a suicidal person who is in the area armed, on drugs, EPPD has not put out any information about this yet. On, all the social media for UTEP, they’re still on lockdown. They said that as soon as they give the all-clear on either your minor alert or their social media’s, then it will be okay to move about the campus.

If you’re on campus to shelter in place, there was an alert that was sent out that said the classes were gonna start at 9:00. That is no longer in effect, don’t go to UTEP until you get the all-clear. Over at EPISD, they do still have some schools on lockdown. You can go to kisselpaso.com. All of those schools are listed on our Facebook page rather. All of those schools are listed. So, as of right now, we’re still, everybody’s kind of on lockdown in this area.

Mike: As far as the high schools, middle schools, those on lockdown, with EPISD, they don’t suggest that the parents go pick their kids up, right, because they’re locked in.

Tricia: They’re locked in. Nobody’s getting in. And right now it’s already 9:00 so the kids are all in school. They’re not gonna be let outside. They’re not gonna be let off campus until the all-clear is given.

Mike: Okay. Michael Gopin “Ask a Lawyer.” You have your legal questions, he has your legal answers.

Tricia: Okay. So, the last question in the mornings from Chase, he said, “I served my country for more than 15 years and now I’m on 90% disability. I recently saw your commercial for the 3M defective earplugs and would like to file a claim. But, would this affect my disability payments from the military?”

Mr. Gopin: Chase, you’re in luck. It will not affect your disability payments at all. You’re not going to be even bringing a case against the military. You’re gonna be bringing a case against the manufacturer of the earplugs, 3M. So you don’t have to worry about any change at all to your disability payments. We’d be more than happy to talk to you about what happened to you, and get your 3M case going. But, if you had significant hearing loss, which sounds like you had, we can certainly help. And time is of the essence to get those cases going so I would suggest that you give us a call and we can try to get this taken care of for you.

It’s a long process, but that’s what you need to do. And don’t worry, no worries with the disability payments.

Mike: How long does somebody, you know, who fits the threshold to be a part of this lawsuit? How long do they have until? You said time is running out.

Mr. Gopin: Yeah. I mean, we don’t have a set deadline yet, but it may be coming pretty soon. When the class action cases… typically they’ll have an end date where you have to file before a certain time. We don’t know what that is at this second in time, but we anticipate probably sometime in 2022.

Tricia: Okay.

Mike: Okay, all right. So, on December 16, that is also a Thursday, Michael Gopin will be back for “Ask a Lawyer.” If there is a legal question that you would like us to put in front of him, go to kisselpaso.com. At the top of the page, where it says Must Read, click on Ask Michael Gopin and can submit your legal question there. Michael, thank you again for showing up this morning.

Mr. Gopin: Thank you so much for having me on this.

Mike: And we’ll see you in a month.

Mr. Gopin: Okay, sounds great.

Announcer: When Mike and Tricia start your day, today’s best mix helps you through it. KSII El Paso, a Townsquare Media station.

Michael J. Gopin

Michael J. Gopin has practiced law in El Paso since 1987. Even after more than 30 years, he still remembers his first jury case. It was two weeks after receiving his license, when he represented a person whose life had been forever changed after being blinded in a work-related incident...