Asbestos Litigation: The Good The Bad And The Ugly

Asbestos Litigation

Each asbestos case is unique however, the general procedure for defending claims involving asbestos is similar. Your attorney should conduct a deposition with the plaintiff.

The exposure of an individual to asbestos can be triggered by numerous sources, not only a single employer or company. That's why asbestos cases often involve multiple defendants.

Find out the source of exposure

Identifying asbestos exposure is an important step in submitting an asbestos claim. Often, victims' attorneys may use medical documents to determine the source of asbestos. This could help victims receive compensation from the companies responsible for their asbestos exposure.

Compensation is required by mesothelioma patients and their families to cover the cost of costly treatment. Compensation can also help families cope with the emotional burdens of mesothelioma diagnosis.

Asbestos lawsuits are complicated legal cases, and victims need to understand their rights and how the process works. While attorneys are able to handle a variety of aspects of a case, the victims are expected to be involved in their own case. This includes responding to requests for discovery and taking depositions.

Remember that the statutes of limitations are limited in New York, and you should seek advice from an asbestos lawyer as soon as you can. If you fail to file your claim within the specified timeframe, you could lose out on financial compensation.

In certain instances, victims were exposed to asbestos-containing products produced by multiple companies. In these instances, victims lawyers may be required to identify the manufacturers of each product, in addition to the employers or contractors who provided the asbestos lawyers-containing materials.

Asbestos litigation is the longest-running mass tort of American history. It is responsible for dozens bankruptcy filings by asbestos manufacturers. Many of these companies have created trust funds to compensate asbestos victims. Yet asbestos defendants continue to deny the evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma and lung cancer. This is despite the research of doctors such as Dr. Irving J. Selikoff and Dr. Jacob Churg.

Developing the Database

A lawsuit involving asbestos-related diseases or mesothelioma is different than a typical personal injury claim. In many cases, asbestos litigation involves many of the same defendants (companies who are being sued) as well as many of the same law firms representing plaintiffs and many of the same expert witnesses.

To build a viable defense in an asbestos-related case attorneys need access to a vast database that can help identify potential sources of exposure. This involves reviewing the websites of employers, speaking with coworkers and getting information from suppliers and employers. The process also involves finding and interviewing nurses and doctors who can testify regarding asbestos exposure.

This kind of database can be difficult to create, particularly if the data has been lost over time. When this happens, it can require the reconstruction of a complete claims database and insurance program, typically from multiple sources such as loss runs and claim files, internal systems, and defense counsel records. This can take years, or years, to complete.

Asbestos lawyers must also have access to a software that allows them locate potential exposure sites and identify potential defendants. Attorneys can save time and money by having this information available to them.

Following the massive bankruptcy of many asbestos manufacturers, plaintiffs' lawyers sought new defendants to list in their lawsuits. As a result asbestos cases in West Virginia have become defined by tri-annual consolidated trials where the number of defendants is paramount, and suits naming fewer than 100 defendants are rare.

Identifying Defendants

The truthful basis of asbestos cases is usually established through discovery. Many asbestos companies resisted for many years that their products could cause harm to people, but when the lawsuits started, documents from the company came to light and revealed evidence of the dangers. These documents can aid plaintiffs prove that a specific defendant' products caused their injuries. In order to win a lawsuit a plaintiff has to prove that the defendant's products were used at his workplace, and that he inhaled dust from the product, and that the exposure was a major reason for his injuries.

Asbestos cases usually involve several defendants. The process of identifying them is different from a personal injury lawsuit. By interviewing family and coworkers members, examining invoices and work orders, obtaining documents from vendors and suppliers and analyzing asbestos attorney samples collected from the plaintiff's workplace and home, it is possible to build an online database that links employers as well as locations and products. The type of asbestos used such as amosite, chrysotile or crocidolite - can also be helpful in identifying defendants because each product is produced by an individual manufacturer.

Defendants are required to carefully review these facts, and determine all possible sources of exposure. This could include a look at more than 40 years of records from the Social Security, tax, union, and other documents of the worker. Due to the long latency of asbestos-related injuries, it is difficult and expensive to establish an accurate database.

Due to the high volume of asbestos cases and insufficient resources of defendants in federal courts, a lot of asbestos cases will be referred to a multidistrict lawsuit (MDL). This practice allows defendants to share resources, and also avoid duplicate discovery.

Case Development

asbestos lawsuits (postheaven.net) require extensive research and the examination of a large number of documents. This can be a difficult task because asbestos exposure is often a long time before the person who suffers from illness. To determine the source of asbestos exposure, attorneys must conduct an interview and review thousands pages of documentation including union and employment records as well as tax files, social security files, lab and medical reports.

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs must do all they can to identify other defendants. In many cases, the number defendants can be as high as 30 or 40. To achieve this, they need to look down the supply chain to look into companies that could have a nexus with asbestos, but aren't named in the lawsuit.

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

A mesothelioma lawyer will determine the identity of all defendants who could be implicated, and their relationship to victim's exposure. This could require a thorough review of more than 40 years of the victim's life through interviews, as well as a look at their social security, union, labor and tax records.

A successful asbestos litigation strategy requires a lot of experience in this complex area of law. At McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia, we have been at the forefront of asbestos litigation since our inception at the beginning of 1994. We are also experts in the nation's defense of companies involved in industry-wide, multi-jurisdictional litigation. We act as National Coordinating Counsel, and liaison counsel. We represent and coordinate the interests of a broad array of defendants, which includes distributors, manufacturers and contractors. We have a wealth of experience creating and establishing key defenses as well as expert witness testimony and jurisdictional Case Management Orders.

Preparing for Trial

Lawyers must be careful in preparing their cases for trial in order to ensure that their clients' arguments and evidence are as strong as they could be. This includes reviewing medical records and making sure that all witnesses are prepared. It also involves identifying the exhibits that will be used during the trial. This process can take years long in complex cases.

Many asbestos sufferers are diagnosed with a less serious disease such as asbestosis, fibrous or pleural plaques prior to the mesothelioma's onset. Asbestosis symptoms can include tightening of the lungs that could cause breathing problems, coughing, chest pain and so on.

Attorneys for asbestos victims must also carefully review the evidence to determine potential defendants who could be held responsible for the asbestos-related injuries. This includes speaking with family members, colleagues asbestos abatement workers, asbestos abatement experts and asbestos manufacturers, as well as getting various documents.

Once an attorney has identified a potential defendant, they must then determine the liability of the person. The defendants can be individuals, businesses or government agencies. They are held accountable for their actions that were negligent.

Congress has offered a variety of legislative solutions to end asbestos lawsuits. However, these attempts have not been successful due to a variety of political issues. Asbestos victims as well as their lawyers and the government are determined to hold negligent asbestos firms accountable for their conduct.

Waters Kraus & Paul is an attorney firm that has handled a variety of cases in New York State and across the nation. Our lawyers have held insurance companies and other responsible parties accountable for their role in the asbestos exposure. In Upstate New York asbestos litigation is divided into five judicial districts, where cases are assigned by judges who have experience in asbestos-related matters.

The Asbestos Litigation Group is open to AAJ Regular Life, Sustaining, and President's Club members. Members interact and discuss legal issues and strategies on the group's plaintiff-only list server, at annual and winter conventions, and in educational seminars on asbestos litigation.