Asbestos Litigation

Each asbestos attorneys case is different, but the general process to defend these claims is the same. Your attorney will want to interview the plaintiff.

The exposure of an individual to asbestos can be triggered by many places, not just a single employer or company. This is why asbestos cases usually involve multiple defendants.

Determining the Source of Exposure

The identification of asbestos exposure is a crucial step in filing an asbestos claim. Lawyers representing victims typically use medical records to determine asbestos' source. This could help victims receive compensation from the companies liable for their asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma patients and their families require compensation to cover expensive mesothelioma treatments. Compensation can assist families in dealing with emotional stress with the mesothelioma diagnosis.

Asbestos lawsuits are complex legal cases, and victims need to understand their rights and the way in which the process operates. While attorneys can handle a lot of aspects of a case, victims are expected to participate 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 consult an asbestos attorney immediately if you are able to. In the event of not filing an asbestos claim within the required time frame could result in missing out on financial compensation.

In certain instances, victims were exposed to asbestos-containing products made by various companies. In these cases, the victims lawyers might need to identify the manufacturers of each product, as well as the employers or contractors who supplied the asbestos-containing products.

Asbestos litigation is the longest-running mass tort in American history. It has been responsible for numerous bankruptcy filings filed by asbestos producers. Many of these companies have established trust funds for asbestos victims. But asbestos defendants continue to contest evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma lung cancer or other respiratory diseases. This is despite research conducted by doctors such as Dr. Irving J. Selikoff Dr. Jacob Churg, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond among others.

The process of creating an Database

A lawsuit involving asbestos-related illnesses or mesothelioma is distinct from a typical personal injury case. In a lot of asbestos litigation cases, plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms and the same expert witnesses.

To develop a successful asbestos defense, lawyers need to have access to a vast database that can identify possible exposure sources. This includes reviewing the websites of employers, speaking with coworkers and getting information from suppliers and employers. The process also requires the search for and interviewing doctors and nurses who can testify about asbestos exposure.

Developing this type of database can be challenging, especially in cases where the data was deleted or lost over time. When this occurs it may require the reconstruction of a complete claims database and insurance program, usually from a variety of sources, including loss runs claims files, internal systems and defense counsel records. It can take years, or even decades to complete.

Asbestos lawyers also need access to a software that allows them to locate potential exposure sites and to identify potential defendants. Having this information at the fingertips of attorneys can help save time and money.

After the mass bankruptcies of many asbestos manufacturers the plaintiffs' lawyers were seeking new defendants to list in their lawsuits. As a result asbestos cases in West Virginia have become defined by tri-annual consolidated trial groups where the volume is paramount and lawsuits that name less than 100 defendants are rare.

Identifying Defendants

The actual basis of asbestos cases is usually established through discovery. Asbestos firms have denied for many years that their products could cause harm, but after lawsuits began, documents from the company provided evidence of the dangers. These documents can be used to prove that particular defendants products caused injuries. To win a case, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's product was in use at his workplace, that they were exposed to it inhaling dust, and that the exposure to the dust was a major cause of his injuries.

Since asbestos cases contain multiple defendants, the method of identifying defendants is different from a typical personal injury case. The key is to build a database linking employers and their locations, as well as products. This is done through interviews with co-workers and relatives as well as reviewing invoices and work orders and obtaining documents from vendors and suppliers and analyzing samples from the plaintiff's home as well as workplace sites. The type of asbestos lawyer involved - amosite, chrysotile, or Crocidolite - could be useful in identifying defendants since each product is produced by an individual manufacturer.

Defendants must carefully review these facts and identify the possible sources of exposure. This could involve a thorough review of more than 40 years of a worker's existence through Social Security, union, tax and other documents. Because the time between asbestos lawyer-related injuries is long, the creation of an accurate database is a lengthy and costly research.

Due to the huge number of asbestos cases and the limited resources of defendants in federal courts, many asbestos cases will be referred to a multidistrict lawsuit (MDL). This practice allows defendants to share their resources and avoid duplication of discovery.

Making a Case

Asbestos suits require extensive investigation and the review of a variety of documents. This can be a difficult task, since asbestos exposure often occurs years before the person who suffers from illness. To identify the source of exposure, attorneys need to conduct interviews and review the thousands of pages of documents including union documents, employment records as well as tax and social security files and medical and laboratory reports.

The lawyers representing the plaintiffs must do all they can to find other defendants. In certain cases, there could be as high as 40 defendants. To achieve this, they must examine the supply chain to look into companies that could have a connection with asbestos but who are not mentioned in the lawsuit.

This process can be very time consuming, especially when the plaintiff is suffering from mesothelioma, or other serious diseases. It is also difficult to locate witnesses and collect physical evidence.

An attorney for mesothelioma will try to identify all defendants and their connections to the victim's exposure. This may be a thorough analysis of the last 40 years of the victim's life. This may include interviews and a review their social security as well as labor, union, and tax records.

A successful asbestos litigation strategy requires extensive experience in this tangled area of law. Since our founding back in 1994, McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia has been at the forefront of asbestos litigation and is a national leader in defending companies in multi-jurisdictional litigation that spans the entire industry. We act as National Coordinating Counsel, and liaison counsel. We represent and represent the interests of a wide array of defendants, which includes distributors, manufacturers, and contractors. We have a wealth of experience formulating and drafting key defenses such as expert testimony and jurisdictional Case Management Orders.

Prepare for the trial

Lawyers need to carefully prepare their cases ahead of trial so that their clients have the strongest arguments and evidence possible. This involves reviewing medical records and making sure that all witnesses are prepared. It also involves identifying the exhibits that will be used at the trial. This process can be lengthy in cases that are complex.

Many asbestos patients are diagnosed with a less serious disease like asbestosis, the pleural plaque or fibrosis, prior to the mesothelioma's development. Asbestosis can cause coughing, chest pain, and difficulty breathing.

Attorneys for asbestos victims must also examine the evidence in order to determine potential defendants that might be accountable for the asbestos attorneys-related harms. This includes interviewing family members, coworkers asbestos abatement workers, asbestos abatement employees and asbestos manufacturers, and obtaining various documents.

Once an attorney has identified a potential defendant, they must determine the liability of that party. The defendants could be individuals, businesses or government agencies. They are accountable for their actions.

Congress has proposed several legislative solutions to end asbestos lawsuits. However, these attempts have not been successful due to a number of political issues. Asbestos victims, their lawyers and the government are committed to holding asbestos companies accountable for their behavior.

The law firm of Waters Kraus & Paul has handled hundreds of cases in New York state and across the country. Our lawyers have held insurance companies, and other responsible parties accountable for their role in asbestos exposure. In Upstate New York, asbestos litigation is handled by five judicial districts in which cases are assigned to judges that are experienced with asbestos-related issues.

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