The Three Greatest Moments In Asbestos Litigation History

Asbestos Litigation

Each asbestos case is unique, but the general procedure for defending against claims based on asbestos is the same. Your attorney will want you to take a deposition of the plaintiff.

A person's exposure to asbestos can be triggered by multiple sources, not just an employer or a company. That's why asbestos cases often involve multiple defendants.

Determine the source of exposure

Identifying asbestos exposure is a crucial step in submitting an asbestos claim. Lawyers for victims often make use of medical records to determine asbestos' source. This could help victims receive compensation from the companies responsible for their asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma victims and their families require compensation to cover expensive mesothelioma treatment. Compensation can also help families cope with the emotional burden of mesothelioma diagnosis.

Asbestos cases are a complex legal cases. Victims need to know their rights and the procedure. While attorneys can handle a lot of aspects of a case, the victims are expected to be involved in their case as well. This includes responding promptly to discovery requests and participating in depositions in court.

Be aware that the statutes are restricted in New York, and you should consult an asbestos attorney (jernigan-weinstein-2.blogbright.Net) as soon as you can. If you don't submit your claim within the prescribed timeframe you could be denied on financial compensation.

In certain instances victims have been exposed to asbestos products manufactured by several companies. In these instances, victims' attorneys will have to determine the source of all asbestos-containing products, and the companies and contractors that supplied the asbestos lawsuit-containing products.

Asbestos litigation is the longest-running mass tort in American history, and it has been the cause of hundreds of bankruptcy filings from asbestos lawyer manufacturers. Many of these companies have established trust funds for asbestos victims. Despite this, asbestos defendants continue denying the evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma or lung cancer. This is despite research conducted by doctors like Dr. Irving J. Selikoff and Dr. Jacob Churg, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond among others.

Making the Database

A case involving mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases is distinct from a typical personal injury case. In many cases asbestos litigation, there are a lot of the same defendants (companies who are being sued), many of the same law firms representing plaintiffs, as well as many of the same expert witnesses.

To build a viable defense in an asbestos case, attorneys must have access to a comprehensive database that can pinpoint potential exposure sources. This involves reviewing job sites, talking to coworkers and collecting documents from suppliers and employers. This involves finding and interviewing doctors or nurses who may be able to be able to testify about asbestos lawyer exposure.

The creation of this type of database can be challenging particularly when the data was lost or destroyed over the course of time. When this happens it may require the reconstruction of an entire claims database and insurance program, typically from multiple sources such as loss runs claims files, internal systems, and defense counsel records. It could take years, or even years to complete.

Asbestos lawyers should also have access to a program that allows them to find potential exposure areas and identify potential defendants. Attorneys can cut down on time and money by having this information readily available.

After the bankruptcy of many asbestos producers, plaintiffs' attorneys searched for new defendants to their lawsuits. As a result asbestos cases in West Virginia have become defined by tri-annual consolidated trials where volume reigns supreme and lawsuits that name less than 100 defendants are rare.

Identifying the defendants

Most asbestos cases are founded on evidence based on facts that are discovered. Many asbestos companies denied for decades that their products could harm people, but when lawsuits began, company documents came to light and revealed evidence of the dangers. These documents can be used to prove that specific products of the defendants caused injuries. To prevail in a lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's product were used in his workplace, that he inhaled dust from the product and that this exposure was a major cause of his injuries.

Asbestos cases typically involve multiple defendants. The process of identifying them differs from a personal injury lawsuit. The most important thing is to create a database linking employers locations, products and locations by speaking with relatives and coworkers looking over work orders and invoices and obtaining documents from suppliers and vendors, and analyzing samples from the plaintiff's residence and workplace websites. It is also a good way to identify defendants if one knows the type of asbestos, like amosite or chrysotile.

The defendants must be attentive to these facts and pinpoint all possible sources of exposure, which can involve a examination of more than 40 years of a worker's life through Social Security, union, tax and other documents. Due to the long latency of asbestos-related injuries, it can be difficult and expensive to establish an accurate database.

Due to the sheer number of cases and limited resources of many defendants asbestos cases are often referred to multi-district litigation (MDL) in federal courts. This practice allows defendants to share their resources and avoid duplicate discovery.

Developing a Case

asbestos lawsuits suits require extensive research and the examination of many documents. This can be a challenge since exposure to asbestos often occurred years before a victim developed a health issue. To identify the source of asbestos exposure, lawyers must conduct an interview and go through thousands of pages of documents including union and employment records as well as tax files, social security records, medical and laboratory reports.

The plaintiffs' attorneys must also do everything they can to find other defendants. In certain instances, there could be as many as 40 defendants. To achieve this, they must examine the supply chain to look into entities that may have a nexus with asbestos but who are not named in the lawsuit.

This process is long, particularly when the claimant suffers from mesothelioma, or other serious illnesses. It is also difficult to find witnesses and collect physical evidence.

A mesothelioma lawyer will attempt to determine the identity of all defendants and their connection to the victim's exposure. This can involve a thorough review over the last 40 years of a victim's life, which may include interviews and a review their social security, labor, union and tax records.

A successful asbestos litigation strategy requires a lot of experience in this tangled legal field. Since our founding back in 1994, McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia has been at the forefront in asbestos litigation and is a leading firm in the country in the defense of companies in multi-jurisdictional, global litigation. We are the National Coordinating Counsel and liaison counsel, representing and managing the interests of many different defendants, including manufacturers of products distributors, suppliers, and contractors. We have extensive experience in formulating and establishing crucial defenses including expert witness testimony, jurisdictional Case Management Orders.

Prepare for Trial

Lawyers need to carefully prepare their cases prior to trial to ensure that their clients are able to present the strongest arguments and evidence possible. This involves reviewing medical records and preparing all witnesses. It also involves identifying exhibits that will be used during the trial. This process can be several years in the case of complex cases.

Before developing mesothelioma, many asbestos patients develop a lesser disease such as asbestosis, the pleural plaque or pleural fibrosis. Asbestosis symptoms can include tightening of the lungs which can cause breathing difficulties, coughing, chest pain and so on.

Lawyers for asbestos victims must also carefully review the evidence to identify potential defendants who could be held accountable for the asbestos injuries. This involves interviewing co-workers or family members, abatement workers, asbestos manufacturers and obtaining a variety of documents.

Once an attorney has identified a potential defendant, they need to determine the liability of that party. The defendants could be individuals, corporations or governmental agencies. They are held accountable for their wrongful actions.

A variety of legislative solutions to end asbestos litigation have been formulated in Congress. However, these efforts have failed due to a number of complex political reasons. Asbestos victims as well as their lawyers and the government remain determined to hold asbestos companies accountable for their actions.

Waters Kraus & Paul is a law firm that has handled hundreds cases in New York State and across the nation. Our attorneys have held asbestos producers as well as insurance companies and other responsible parties accountable. In Upstate New York, asbestos lawsuits litigation is handled by five judicial districts, where cases are assigned to judges who are familiar with asbestos matters.

The Asbestos Litigation Group is open to AAJ Regular, Life, Sustaining and President's Club members. Members of the Asbestos Litigation Group network and discuss legal issues, strategies, and at Winter and annual conventions.