New York Personal Injury Laws

What to on Scene After a Car Accident

If you’ve been in a car accident, you need to exchange information with the other party at the scene, give a detailed accurate statement to the police, and notify your insurance company right away. It’s important that you document the accident clearly and concisely.

Contact the Morrow Law Firm on more information on what to do if you’ve been involved in an auto accident.

Brick Layer Exposed to Asbestos

You’re a bricklayer. You’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you’re wondering how did you get this disease?

 Mesothelioma Trial Attorney

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I am a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you a bit about the types of exposures to asbestos that bricklayers faced from their work on the job. In order to do that, I want to talk to you about a prior client I had, and his work is a good example of how bricklayers are exposed to asbestos.

How Do Brick Layers Become Exposed

He worked at very large commercial sites, sites like the World Trade Center, and he also worked at smaller commercial sites. He was a union bricklayer, so he did all commercial work. And the smaller sites for him were six-story apartment buildings, and whether it was a big building or a small building, his work was kind of always the same. He did brick and masonry work, Brick and masonry walls, and from time to time, especially back in the 1950s, some of the actual brick that he used contained asbestos.

But mostly, most of his exposures to asbestos came from the work of other tradesmen. Now when he was doing his work, other tradesmen could be shoulder to shoulder with him or maybe within ten feet working with products that contained asbestos. If he was building walls in a boiler room, plumbers or steamfitters could be working on the boiler systems working with steam pipes and working with the equipment in the boiler room, all of which was insulated with asbestos.

Mixing asbestos, applying it as a insulation material to high heat and to steam equipment while my client, the bricklayer, is putting up a masonry wall not far away. They’re all breathing the same dust, and all of the tradesmen in the room are susceptible to getting mesothelioma. In addition, when he was doing his work in different parts of apartment buildings, other trades were putting up internal walls and putting in floors using building materials that contained asbestos.

These exposures to asbestos, caused by other trades working near my bricklayer client, caused him to get mesothelioma. Now why am I telling you all this? It’s because you have questions about mesothelioma, and about the types of exposures that bricklayers would have to asbestos.

I’m Joe Williams, and at our office we handle cases from mesothelioma victims every day, and we deal with these issues every single day. Call us at our office, we’ll answer your questions. Thanks.

Types of Injuries

At the Maurer Law Firm, I’ve had clients who’ve come to me as a result of many different types of injuries. They may have been injured in a car accident. They may have fallen at work. They may have been a victim of medical malpractice. Whatever the cause, they all have something in common – their lives have been turned upside down. They don’t know what’s going to happen next. They don’t know if they’ll ever return to work, or if they’ll be able to make their mortgage payments. These are serious issues that are taken very seriously here at the Maurer Law Firm.

The litigation process can be complex and overwhelming. My experience and dedication to your case will help educate you on the process

Suffolk County Asbestos Exposure

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you worked in Suffolk County, New York, and you’re wondering how did you get this disease.

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I can give you information about asbestos exposures that occurred to workers in Suffolk County.

 Where Exactly Did This Exposure Occur

Now we know that in Suffolk County, New York, there were three major powerhouses, LILCO powerhouses. It’s now National Grid, but back when the workers were exposed to asbestos, they were LILCO powerhouses. The powerhouses were located in Port Jefferson, Northport, and Shoreham, and at these powerhouses, asbestos products were used. And workers – union tradesmen who built the powerhouses, who repaired and renovated these powerhouses over time – were exposed to asbesto during the course of their work.

We also know in Suffolk County, in both Bethpage and Farmingdale, there’s Grumman Aerospace, where military planes were built for the United States government using all manner of asbestos products, from asbestos gaskets in the machining of engines, to asbestos insulation products used throughout equipment and on the planes themselves. And also, during the course of the past century as the population migrated eastward to Suffolk County, there was a housing boom in Suffolk County. Houses were constructed, apartment buildings, which required the use of building products, many of which had asbestos-containing components, which exposed the workers – the builders who built Suffolk County – to asbestos.

Now you have questions about asbestos exposure and how you could have been exposed to asbestos in Suffolk County. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we answer questions for mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give us a call, and we’ll answer your questions.

Thanks.

Boil Maker Vulnerable to Asbestos Exposure

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City. I want to talk to you about a particular client I had and explain to you how he proved his exposures to asbestos. Now, this client, a former client of mine his name was Don and he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He was a union boil maker who worked in the local power houses here in New York City for many decades. Through the course of his work he was exposed to all kinds of asbestos. Asbestos cement, asbestos block, asbestos pipe covering, asbestos refactoring. Now, the thing about Don that was very interesting is that Don was a brilliant guy. Don barely graduated high school, didn’t go to college, wasn’t a doctor or lawyer or any of those things. He was a union boiler maker. But boy, did he know what he was talking about. When it came time for him in the fight of his life and his deposition to talk about his exposures to asbestos he did a tremendous job of talking about all the ways that was was exposed to asbestos. He has an incredible memory and he was able to document through his great memory and his strong mind all the ways that he was exposed to asbestos. I have to say it was one of the great pleasures I’ve ever had working with such a knowledgeable and informed client. Don had a very successful and strong case and you may have a similar case. But every case is different. It’s depends on large part on the work up and effort that’s put into the case. To work on the case with the client to establish these exposures to asbestos so that we can prove them and resolve the case in a favorable way. Now, you have I’m sure many questions about how you prove that you were exposed to asbestos in the different ways you were exposed. We can answer those questions for you. I’m Joe Williams and at our firm we handle cases for mesothelioma victims everyday. Pick up the phone and call us at the number below and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you for listening.

The Dangers of Tylenol

One culprit. And each year, 450 deaths. 26,000 hospitalizations. 56,000 emergency room visits. 100,000 calls to poison control centers. The suspect? A very common everyday drug.

On a weekend in February of 1993, 37-year-old Antonio Benedi felt a case of the flu coming on. As many people have done, he reached for a common over-the-counter pain medication. “I was taking Tylenol like I was supposed to by the label,” Benedi said. Within a few days, he was in a comma and desperately needed a liver transplant.

Benedi said that while he did take the medicine on a mostly empty stomach, he did not take the drug irresponsibly, which is what many people think must happen in order to be harmed by Tylenol. “I never misused anything,” he said, “I took Tylenol as recommended for three days. By Monday night, my liver was failing. By the time I reached the hospital, I was near death.”

Usage & Dosage Amounts

Not everyone is harmed by Tylenol. The issue here is that so many are, and that the manufacturer’s warnings seem inadequate. Tylenol was originally approved by the FDA in 1955 and has enjoyed the public’s and medical communities’ trust for decades. Many have touted Tylenol as the safest drug on the market. The medication world assumes that consumers tend to exceed the recommended dosage of over-the-counter drugs for various reasons.

For example, they may not realize they are taking other medications that also contain the same ingredients. Others may not remember exactly when they last took a dosage. Also, many people view over-the-counter drugs as extremely safe and think that taking one or two extra pills won’t cause any harm. A typical over-the-counter drug has a maximum safe dosage of roughly ten times the recommended dosage on the bottle. However, Tylenol’s manufacturer recommends a dosage that is equal to the maximum safe dosage, leaving no room for error. Acetaminophen, that is Tylenol, bears a warning about liver damage, but no warning about liver failure or death. In fact, acetaminophen is the number one cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

Alcohol Effects

Let’s take a look at two groups of pain sufferers who may have a strong probability of being harmed by the drug. Users who have ingested alcohol and users who are fasting. Small print on the labels do warn against taking the drug if you’re having three drinks of alcohol daily. This is not the clearest explanation of how much is too much if for example, you had several drinks last night and none today. Headaches are common during fasting and during hangovers. Acetaminophen is often used for relief at these times. The human liver is normally capable of neutralizing the chemicals in Tylenol’s manufacturer’s recommended dosage. However, for people with alcohol in their bloodstream or who are fasting, their liver is already functioning at a higher capacity and is therefore unable to process the toxins found in acetaminophen.

Hunger Effects

People fast for many reasons and for different lengths of time. Even breakfast follows a fast. It is breaking a fast if you refrain from eating between supper and breakfast. Low-income children and adults may skip one or two meals. Many other people fast to lose weight and for religious purposes.

Do you think that Tylenol and other acetaminophen manufacturers should warn of the dangers such as liver failure and death when taken at the recommended dosage? Next time on You Be The Judge. Does evidence show that dosages equal to or less than Tylenol’s recommendation are deadly?

By: Edward Lake

Legal Rights and Evaluating Your Past for Evidence

A family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you’re wondering do they have any legal rights? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I can give you some information about this topic and it’s a very important one, because workers in industry and in various trades throughout the course of the past century often worked for decades with their hands building America and working with asbestos products. These same workers are the folks who 30, 40, 50, 60 years later, have been now diagnosed with mesothelioma. They are put in the position of taking this path down into their history, into their past to try to figure out how they could have been exposed to asbestos. What I can tell you is that everyday at my office, we represent individuals who are suffering with mesothelioma. We represent them and their families as they take this journey to try to figure out how they contracted this terrible disease. What we do in all of these cases is we look for the companies, the defendants as they are called, who could have exposed our client to asbestos. When we’re able to find who those companies were through a very thorough investigation and lot of research into these cases, we then proceed to demonstrate in court how those companies failed to warn our clients about the dangers of asbestos. You see under the law in various states and certainly in New York State, there is a duty to warn of known dangers to end users, perhaps like you or your family member who work with these asbestos products and that failure to warn about the known hazard, the hazard being cancer, mesothelioma creates liability on these corporate entities. Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because you have questions about mesothelioma and the legal process as it relates to mesothelioma, and we can provide answers to those questions. I’m Joe Williams and every day we represent victims of mesothelioma. We can answer your questions as well. I hope you found this video informative, and I thank you very much for watching.

World Trade Center Builders Exposed to Asbestos

Did you know that dry wall installers at the World Trade Center site were exposed to asbestos?

Hi, I’m Joe Williams, I’m a Mesothelioma trial attorney, and I can answer some question that you might have about Mesothelioma exposures at the World Trade Center site.

Now, the World Trade Center, composed of seven different buildings, was the most massive construction project of its time when it was building, staring in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. And the internal walls of what was primarily office buildings were built with sheetrock. So we’re talking about massive quantities of sheetrock that was installed at the World Trade Center site by Union Drywall installers.

 Different Exposures of Asbestos

Now, when these boards of sheetrock were put up, in between the seams of each of the boards at the entire site, joint compound was installed. And it was either in a dry mix, it was mixed with water, or it was already premixed and came out of a bucket. But either way it was put between the seams wet, allowed to dry, and then sanded down. And usually tradesmen did two or three coats of this, sanding it down between each coat. And that happened throughout the entire site.

 Asbestos Products Banned

Now why is that important? It’s important because up until 1977 most joint compound continued asbestos. In 1977 the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of asbestos in joint compound. But before that time and during the construction of the World Trade Center, that joint compound had asbestos in it. It exposed all of these Union Drywall workers and other tradesmen who worked in the area to large quantities of breathable asbestos dust.

Now, you have Mesothelioma and you have questions about asbestos exposure, especially exposure that could have happened at the World Trade Center site. I’m Joe Williams and our law firm we handle cases for victims of Mesothelioma and their families every single day. I invite you to give us a call and we will be very happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

Passengers Injured A Number Of Ways

People can be injured in a variety of ways when traveling by train. Passengers are injured by slipping and falling, stepping in the gap between the train and platform, or having a door closed on them as they enter or exit the train. Passenger injuries on trains can include broken bones, torn ligaments, spine injuries, shoulder injuries, and even traumatic brain injuries. Sometimes, the full nature and extent of these injuries is not revealed for a long period of time.

 What To Do Immediately After

If you or a loved one has been injured on a train, you need to immediately seek medical treatment and contact an experienced railroad lawyer who is familiar with all of the federal laws and regulations that apply to the railroad industry. For a free consultation, contact me, Ira Maurer, for more information on how we can help you obtain all of the compensation you deserve.