Asbestos Litigation

Each asbestos case is different however, the general procedure to defend these claims is the same. Your attorney should conduct a deposition with the plaintiff.

A person's exposure to asbestos can come from multiple sources, not just a single employer or company. This is the reason asbestos cases usually involve multiple defendants.

Determining the Source of Exposure

To file an asbestos claim, it is crucial to pinpoint asbestos exposure. Often, victims' attorneys can use medical documents to determine the source of asbestos law and litigation. This can help victims receive compensation from the companies liable for their asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma sufferers and their families require compensation to pay for mesothelioma treatments. Compensation can assist families in dealing with emotional stress when a mesothelioma diagnosis is announced.

Asbestos cases are a complex legal cases. The victims must be aware of their rights and asbestos Class action litigation the procedure. While attorneys can handle a lot of aspects of a case the plaintiffs are expected to take part in their case as well. This includes responding promptly to discovery requests and attending court depositions.

Remember that the statutes of limitations are limited in New York, and you must consult an asbestos attorney as soon as you can. If you don't file your claim within the prescribed time frame, you could lose out on financial compensation.

In some cases asbestos-containing products produced by several companies have been used to expose victims. In such cases, the lawyers representing the victims will have to determine the source of all asbestos-containing products, and the employers and contractors who supplied the asbestos-containing products.

Asbestos litigation has been the longest-running mass tort in American history. It's responsible for numerous bankruptcy filings by asbestos manufacturers. Many of these companies have established trust funds for asbestos victims. Yet latest asbestos litigation defendants continue to deny the evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma and lung cancer. This is despite research conducted by doctors like Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, Dr. Jacob Churg, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond among others.

Developing the Database

A mesothelioma lawsuit or other asbestos-related illnesses differs from a typical personal injury lawsuit. In many cases asbestos litigation, there are many of the same defendants (companies that are sued) and many of the same law firms representing plaintiffs and many of the same expert witnesses.

To build a strong asbestos defense, attorneys need to have access to a vast database that will help them identify potential exposure sources. This includes reviewing job sites, interviewing co-workers and collecting information from suppliers and employers. The process also involves the search for and interviewing doctors and nurses who can testify about asbestos exposure.

Making this kind of database can be difficult, especially in cases where the data has been lost or destroyed over time. In these situations it could be necessary to rebuild a complete insurance program and claims database using multiple sources, like loss runs, claim files, internal system and defense counsel records. This can take years, or even years, to complete.

Asbestos attorneys must also have access a program which allows them to find potential defendants and potential exposure sites. This information is at the fingertips of attorneys can save time and money.

After the bankruptcy of many asbestos producers, plaintiffs' lawyers looked for new defendants for their lawsuits. As a result of this, asbestos cases in West Virginia are now defined by triannual consolidated trials groups where volume is king and lawsuits naming less than 100 defendants is a rarity.

Identifying the defendants

The truthful basis of asbestos lawsuits is often established through discovery. Asbestos firms have denied for many years that their products could cause harm, but when lawsuits began the company's documents provided evidence of the dangers. These documents can be used to prove that particular products of the defendants caused injuries. To prevail in a lawsuit, the plaintiff must show that the defendant's product was used at the workplace and that he was exposed to it by inhaling dust, and that the exposure was a significant reason for his injuries.

Since asbestos cases contain multiple defendants, the method of identifying defendants is different than a typical personal injury case. The most important thing is to create an inventory of employers, locations and products through interviews with co-workers and relatives looking over work orders and invoices and obtaining documents from suppliers and vendors and analyzing samples from the plaintiff's residence and employment websites. It is also a good way to identify defendants if you are aware of the kind of asbestos, like amosite or chrysotile.

Defendants must carefully look over these facts and determine all possible exposure sources. This may include a look at more than 40 years of records from the Social Security, tax, union and other documents of workers. Because of the long time lag of asbestos-related injuries, it's difficult and expensive to establish an accurate database.

Because of the large numbers of cases and the insufficient resources of defendants, many asbestos cases are referred to multi-district litigation (MDL) in federal courts. This practice allows defendants to share their resources and reduce duplicate discovery.

Case Development

Asbestos suits require a lot of study and examination of many documents. This can be a difficult task because asbestos exposure is often a long time before the person who suffers from illness. In order to identify the sources of the exposure, attorneys must conduct interviews and review thousands of pages of documentation like employment records, union documents, tax and social security files and medical and laboratory reports.

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs have to do everything they can to locate additional defendants. In certain cases, there could be as many as 40 defendants. To accomplish this, they must look further down the supply chain and research organizations that could have a connection to asbestos, but have not been named in the lawsuit.

This process can be extremely long, particularly when the claimant suffers from mesothelioma, or other serious illnesses. In addition, Asbestos Litigation Group it can be often difficult to locate witnesses and obtain physical evidence.

A mesothelioma lawyer will determine the potential defendants and their relationship to victim's exposure. This may be accomplished by a thorough analysis of more than 40 years of the victim's history through interviews, as well as a look at their social security, union, and tax records.

A successful asbestos litigation strategy requires a lot of experience in this tangled area of law. At McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia we have been at the forefront of asbestos litigation since our founding in 1994 and are nationally recognized as leaders in the defense of companies involved in industry-wide, multi-jurisdictional litigation. We are the National Coordinating Counsel, and liaison counsel. We represent and represent the interests of a broad range of defendants, including product manufacturers, distributors and contractors. We have extensive experience in creating and implementing crucial defenses including expert testimony, jurisdictional Case Management Orders.

Prepare for Trial

Lawyers must be careful in preparing their cases for trial in order to ensure that their clients' evidence and arguments are as strong as they can be. This involves reviewing medical records and prepping all witnesses. It also involves identifying exhibits that will be used at the trial. This process can take years in complicated cases.

Many asbestos sufferers are diagnosed with a less serious disease such as asbestosis, fibrous or pleural plaques prior to the development of mesothelioma. Asbestosis symptoms include tightening of the lungs which may cause difficulty breathing, coughing and chest pain.

Asbestos victims' lawyers must also scrutinize the evidence to identify any possible defendants who could be held liable for the asbestos litigation online injuries. This includes interviewing coworkers or family members, abatement workers, asbestos manufacturers and obtaining a variety.

After an attorney has identified a potential defendant, they must then determine the liability of that party. The defendants could be individuals, companies or governmental agencies. They must be held accountable for their negligent actions.

Congress has proposed several legislative solutions to settle asbestos lawsuits. The efforts have not been effective due to a myriad of complicated political factors. Asbestos victims, their lawyers and the government are determined to hold negligent asbestos companies accountable for their actions.

The law firm of Waters Kraus & Paul has handled hundreds of cases in New York state and across the nation. Our lawyers have held asbestos producers as well as insurance companies and other responsible parties accountable. In Upstate New York, asbestos litigation is concentrated in five judicial districts, where cases are assigned to judges familiar with asbestos-related issues.

The Asbestos Litigation Group welcomes all AAJ members including regular, life, sustainer, and President's club members. Members meet and discuss legal issues and strategies on the group's plaintiff-only list server at the annual and winter conventions, and participate in educational seminars on asbestos litigation.