New York Personal Injury Laws

Experienced Mesothelioma Attorney

When handling Mesothelioma cases, a very important criteria the attorney just has to have when dealing with victims of Mesothelioma, is empathy for the plight of these victims. We represent people. We represent victims as they fight for justice against large entities, companies, corporations. There is no substitute for experience. Experience and seasoning is a very important factor in handling a Mesothelioma case.

 Caring About and For Our Clients

Our clients are brilliant people. They can see from day one the level of commitment that our firm has to their case. They know that to us, it’s not just a case, it’s a cause. It’s a cause that we take on, that we are all in, 100%, fighting for them.

Injured in a Motor Accident

Sometimes even a minor car or biking accident can result in severe long term injuries that can be costly. If you’ve been injured through no fault of your own, don’t go it alone. The legal team at Wilson Law has successfully resolved claims for severely injured individuals, by either negotiating with the insurance company or going to court. Don’t get overwhelmed. See the attorneys at Wilson Law for a free consultation. We’ll even come to you.

At Wilson Law we’re standing up to them and standing up for you.

Maurer Law Firm

I’m Ira Maurer, founder of the Maurer Law Firm. Welcome to our website. I’ve been practicing serious personal injury law in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and throughout New England for over 30 years now.

When I decided to open the Maurer Law Firm, there were a few principles that were important to me. I wanted every client of this firm to know that they would be treated like family because that’s how I would want to be treated.

I restrict the number of cases that I handle so that I can devote my attention to each and every client and their needs. I explain all the important things that they need to know because they need to be educated, because my clients can make the best, most confident decisions about their case if they understand everything that goes on.

Working as a lawyer isn’t just a profession for me. It’s not just a career. It’s my life.

Injured At Work

If you’ve been injured as a result of falling from a location at work or having something fall and strike you at work, you may have the right to bring a lawsuit under the New York State Labor Law. In order to determine whether or not you have a proper claim under that law, it’s necessary to access all the circumstances of your accident. For more information about a possible claim under the New York Labor Law, call the Maurer Law Firm or visit our website for more information on what you may be entitled.

Lung Cancer Versus Mesothelioma

When new clients come into my office, they often talk to me about their lung cancer. They mention mesothelioma, but they don’t really understand the difference. I want to talk to you about that difference now. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you a little bit about these two different diseases, both of which can be caused by asbestos. First let’s talk about lung cancer. Lung cancer is a malignancy that grows within the lung itself. Now, here in this anatomical drawing, the lungs are represented here. This is known as the lung parenchyma. It’s a spongy organ that is within the bony rib cage. Now, lung cancer as it’s known– and there’s many different cell types of lung cancer. But lung cancer just generally, is a discrete tumor inside the parenchyma, inside the tissue of the lung.

So you’ve heard the term golf ball-like tumor. Sometimes, doctors refer to it as a nodule. That’s the kind of tumor that happens within the lung tissue. Again, there’s different cell types, but it’s generally called lung cancer. Now, mesothelioma is very different. Mesothelioma is a very specific cancer, and it’s really only two different cell types – epithelial mesothelioma or sarcomatoid mesothelioma – or it can be a combination of the two. That’s called biphasic mesothelioma. But no matter which cell type it is, mesothelioma is a tumor – a malignant tumor – of the lining outside the lung. Now, outside the lung, you see this whitish grey substance here. That’s the pleura. There’s a parietal pleura and a visceral pleura, and these two pleural surfaces interact with the outside of the lung and the inside of the rib cage, and in-between the two of them, there’s a little bit of liquid. So as our diaphragm involuntarily contracts, it pushes the spongy lung tissue – the spongy lung organ – up, and allows us to take a breath. The pleural surface allows the lung to slide along inside the bony rib cage. And we don’t even know it happened, it’s involuntary.

When someone has malignant mesothelioma, a tumor of these pleural surfaces, just breathing can cause pain. Also, the tumor pushes in on the spongy lung tissue, contracts the lung. You can’t get a full breath. Mesothelioma victims experience shortness of breath because of that. The mesothelioma tumor does not grow like a golf ball. It’s a diffuse tumor that grows in a diffuse pattern along the pleural surface, and tends to encase the lung area. Some have described it like a rind of a grapefruit. It’s a diffuse tumor. Those are some of the differences between lung cancer and mesothelioma. I’m telling you this, because you have questions about mesothelioma, about asbestos exposure.

I’m Joe Williams. At my office we handle cases for victims of mesothelioma and lung cancer every day. We deal with these issues, deal with these questions each and every day. If you have questions, I invite you to contact our office. We’ll answer your questions. Thank you for watching.

Dry Cleaner Exposed to Asbestos

Did you know that workers in a dry cleaner can be exposed to asbestos and get mesothelioma? Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you about some of the exposures that workers in a dry cleaner setting can have to asbestos.

 How Do Dry Cleaners Expose Asbestos

A dry cleaner is a commercial business wherein clothes are laundered and pressed. In order to do that, steam presses exist at the dry cleaner. Now, the steam, and this is some years ago, was created by equipment, a boiler.

And that boiler would be covered with asbestos, and the pipes from that steam-generating boiler would be covered with asbestos steam pipes. The steam is fed to a press machine. In many circumstances the press consist of two metal surfaces that push down on clothes, and basically iron them or press them.

And on the two metal surfaces, the coding of that metal surface is a pad on each of the surfaces. And that pad, some years ago, was made of asbestos to handle the high heat of the steam that is penetrating through the pad and into the clothes to steam the clothing.

And because of the high heat, and because of the commercial use of these steam presses in which hundreds of garments was steamed by day, the pads would wear out very quickly and have to be replaced. Often the pads would burn on to the press, and have to be torn off.

And the worker in the dry cleaner would be exposed to asbestos from those pads, and the use and the replacement of the pads on a regular basis. Additionally, in large commercial settings where laundry is done, large commercial washers and dryers has asbestos components.

 Asbestos Exposure Continued

In the United States Navy, the ships had washers and dryers that had asbestos components. And the workers who worked on these machines, had to deal with these components which included asbestos gaskets and asbestos insulation.

And that work exposed them potentially to asbestos, which could cause mesothelioma years later, years, decades, after the work was done. I’m telling you all this because you have questions about mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams.

 Contact Us With Questions and Concerns

At my office we handle mesothelioma cases every day, and we answer questions for mesothelioma victims and for their families each and every day, and we deal with these issues constantly. If you have questions, please feel free to contact my office. We’ll answer your questions. Thank you very much.

Drywall Installers Exposed to Asbestos

You work as a drywall installer, and you’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma. You’re trying to determine all the ways you could have been exposed to asbestos. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I’d like to talk to you about the ways that drywall installers were exposed to asbestos on construction jobs.

Ways Drywall Installers Were Exposed

Now, we know that prior to 1977, joint compound contained asbestos. It was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1977. Drywall installers who put up those boards of sheetrock – usually four foot by eight foot boards – onto studs, we know that those seams between the sheetrock had to be taped and filled with joint compound. The joint compound came in either a pre-mixed form in a bucket – it was already wet – or it came in large bags, it was dry, and had to be mixed with water, and when it was mixed, lots of dust in the air. Either way once the joint compound was wet, it was applied to the seams, smoothed out, and allowed to dry. Once dry, sanded down, creating lots and lots of dust in the workspace. Tradesmen did this process two or three times to sanding, two or three times to make a smooth finished professional wall. Each of those sanding applications created dust that the installers who worked with breathed. These exposures to this asbestos dust on a daily basis over the course of an entire career caused mesothelioma.

 Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

We see in these cases in asbestos litigation the exposures many years ago decades later resulting in a tradesman such as a drywall installer being diagnosed by his doctors with mesothelioma. The doctors, when they review this, they connect the asbestos exposure to the current diagnosis of mesothelioma years later. Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because you have questions about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams. At our office we represent victims of mesothelioma and their families, and we deal with these issues every day. Give us a call at our office and we will answer your questions. Thank you. [music]

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

Bronx Workers Exposed to Asbestos

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you work in the Bronx, and you’re wondering, where’d you get this disease from? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I can give you some information about a asbestos exposure that occurred to workers who worked in The Bronx. We know that the Bronx is a heavily populated borrow during the last century. The Bronx was build-up to become one of the most densely populated borrows in the metropolitan area. And that happened through building, union tradesmen and craftsmen building apartment houses and dwellings throughout The Bronx. Building large/multi story apartment buildings, and that involved work a asbestos products, asbestos insulation, joint compound, floor tile, roofing, refractory, bricks, these union tradesmen were exposed to asbestos in hundreds and thousands of buildings as The Bronx was built. We also know that The Bronx is home to at least one Con-Edison Powerhouse Hellgate, and that powerhouse is filled with asbestos components, including asbestos insulation, which expose the workers who worked at that facility. We also know that The Bronx is home to large medical facilities such as Albert Einstein Cancer Center in the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, and Jacobi Medical Center, and perhaps maybe even you were treated at any of these locations. But it’s also important to remember that these buildings were built by craftsmen’s hands, and those men and women were exposed with asbestos during the building of these facilities.

You’ve been diagnose with mesothelioma, and I’m sure you have questions about mesothelioma, and about asbestos exposure, and how you contract to these disease. Well, I’m Joe Williams, in our law firm we answer questions for mesothelioma victims and their families everyday. And we certainly can talk about to you about the Bronx, and about the various ways that workers were exposed to asbestos in The Bronx. I invite you to call the number on your screen bellow and we’ll talk to you about your questions and answer your questions. Thanks.