New York Personal Injury Laws

Asbestos Exposure in Powerhouses

You’ve worked in powerhouses for a good part of your working career, and you were exposed to asbestos, and now you have mesothelioma. Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I’d like to talk to you about the types of exposures to asbestos that workers in powerhouses had.

I’d like to talk to you about a former client of mine, who is a powerhouse worker, who is in what’s called the major maintenance gang at one of the utilities here in New York, in New York City. And his job entailed him going to every powerhouse in that particular utility’s system.

 Exposure on the Job

So he is a good client to talk about, because his case involved all the exposures that a typical powerhouse worker would have. So he was able to testify in his case, about exposure to asbestos on boilers. And having worked in powerhouses yourself, you know that the boilers in a powerhouse are giant.

 Large Amounts of Asbestos

Some as tall as ten stories, and just covered and filled with asbestos products, including asbestos block, asbestos cement, asbestos gaskets, asbestos refractory. And this particular former client of mine, talked about asbestos pipe covering on the pipes throughout the powerhouses.

As well as asbestos blankets on the turbines attached with wire to the exterior of the turbines. He talked about asbestos containing flange gaskets, used on almost every pipe in the entire powerhouse. He discussed asbestos coverings on various equipment like pumps and other types of equipment.

He talked about asbestos on valves, he talked about asbestos packing and gaskets used inside of various types of equipment. And these are many of the exposures to asbestos that powerhouse workers could have.

But there are many more, and I’m sure you have many questions about the types of exposures to asbestos that a worker would have in a powerhouse. Well, we can answer your questions. I’m Joe Williams. I invite you to call our office at the number listed below, and we’ll answer your questions. We represent mesothelioma victims every day, and we certainly would be there to answer your questions for you. Thank you for listening.

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.

Public Service Tips

I’m Ira Maurer, with a public service law tip. If you’ve been injured and commence a lawsuit to collect damages for your injuries, you have the burden of proving your case by a preponderance of the credible evidence. That means you have to convince a jury that, with each element of your case, it’s more likely true than not true. You have to tip the scale of justice in your favor, 51% to 49%; if the jury thinks it’s 50/50, then you haven’t met your burden of proof and you will lose the case. This burden is different from what you may have heard in a criminal case, where the prosecutor has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you’d like more information about pursuing a personal injury case, visit the Maurer Law Firm’s website at M-A-U-R-E-R-L-A-W.net

Plumbers Exposed to Asbestos

Did you know that plumbers were exposed to asbestos during the construction of the World Trade Center? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney here in New York City, and I can give you some information about the types of exposures to asbestos that plumbers faced during the construction of the World Trade Center site.

Large Quantities of Exposure

The World Trade Center site, composed of seven different buildings, was a massive construction project, and the plumbers union had a very large presence during the building of the seven buildings. The buildings at this site required massive quantities of water, hot water and cold water piping running throughout the site. The plumbers’ work at the World Trade Center site exposed them to asbestos in the form of asbestos pipe covering, asbestos gaskets, asbestos insulation that covered the equipment that the plumbers worked with on a daily basis at the World Trade Center site. In addition to their own work, the plumbers who worked at the World Trade Center site could have also been exposed to the work of other trades – trades who are working with asbestos-containing floor tile, or asbestos-containing joint compound, or asbestos-containing fireproofing – exposed as bystanders to the work of others.

You have questions about mesothelioma and exposures to asbestos at the World Trade Center. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm we handle cases everyday for mesothelioma victims and their families. I invite you to give our office a call. We can answer your questions. Thank you.

Asbestos Exposure Claim

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you worked at the World Trade Center during it’s construction. The building no longer exists, so how could you possibly bring a claim for your mesothelioma diagnosis? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney here in New York City, and I can answer these questions that you might have about the World Trade Center. When the World Trade Center was constructed, it was one of the largest construction projects ever known to man, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the State of New York, entered into contracts with various contractors – general contractors and subcontractors – to do all of the work at this massive, massive project that involved thousands and thousands of workers. During the course of the last decade, we’ve seen many workers who have developed mesothelioma from their work at the World Trade Center, and through the litigation of those cases, we have acquired the contracts, the work records, the documents, which establish which contractors worked at the World Trade Center, what work they did, what work with asbestos was done at the World Trade Center. There’s also prior deposition testimony from other workers who’ve gone before you, who have already  testified to their exposure to asbestos at the World Trade Center. So, there’s a body of evidence and information about how workers were exposed to asbestos at the World Trade Center, and we can use that information, as well as any information that a worker who’s now been diagnosed with mesothelioma could have, to create a full picture of the types of exposures that occurred to workers at the World Trade Center. So, just because the building no longer exists, we are still able to go forward and prove a very strong case regarding exposure to asbestos at the World Trade Center, exposures that can cause mesothelioma to the workers that worked at the World Trade Center. You have questions about mesothelioma and exposure to asbestos. I’m Joe Williams. At our firm, we answer questions from mesothelioma victims and their families every day. Give us a call. We’ll be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

Railroad Companies Already Making Their Case

It’s very important if you’re an injured railroad worker, that you hire an experienced law firm as soon as possible. The reason is, the railroad has a whole system that goes into effect right away. They have all sorts of departments that collect evidence, they take witness statements, they reenact your injury. And before you know it, they’ve tied up the defense of the case before you’ve gotten out of your hospital bed.

You need an experienced attorney who knows how the railroad industry works, understand the law, what the proof is that’s required to win your case. We can help you at the Maurer Law–

Workers’ Compensation Laws

When you’re injured on the job, unless you work for the railroad industry, or you’ve been injured as a result of the negligence of someone other than your employer or a co-employee, you are not permitted to sue your employer. Workers’ compensation laws bar you from bringing that type of lawsuit. You need an experienced law firm, who understands what’s involved and how to analyze the facts and circumstances of your case to know if you, in fact, have a basis for a lawsuit.

Being injured on the job can leave you wondering what’s going to happen in your future. Contact me or visit my website

The Risks of Hip Replacements

Today on You Be The Judge. Are hip implants putting toxic debris in people’s bloodstream? Could a major corporation have hidden its expectation that 37% of its hip replacements would fail? An estimated 500,000 Americans have received metal-on-metal hip replacements for Arthritis, fractures, and other conditions that cause everyday pain. This type of hip implant is called metal-on-metal because both the ball and socket are metal composed of Cobalt, Chromium alloys.

Metal on Metal Hip Replacements

Now let’s stop right there. Imagine two pieces of metal grinding against each other in your body. According to the FDA, this grinding from a metal-on-metal hip implant can release small metallic debris into the body. This lingering debris can raise the body’s toxicity levels, and for one 66-years-old man, this implant raised his body’s levels of Cobalt and Chromium seven times normal.     Testimony was heard in the Los Angeles Superior Court, and this first lawsuit to go to trial involving Johnson & Johnson’s all metal hip replacements.

Johnson & Johnson Hip Replacements

The manufacturer is alleged to have known about defects including the risk of Cobalt and Chromium poisoning due to the metal debris before they even started selling the implants in 2004, but there’s more. A Johnson & Johnson study presented at trial showed that the company itself had estimated the 37% of the devices would fail within five years of implant surgery. 37%, that’s almost 4 in 10.     Stop for a moment and imagine that you yourself needed a hip implant.

First of all, you would be dealing with a great deal of physical pain on a daily basis. You would have a hard time doing ordinary tasks like going to answer a knock at the front door or sweeping the back steps. Your doctor recommends a hip replacement, and after talking it over with your friends and family, you decide to undergo this intensive surgery. Afterward you go through a period of recovery, but it is well worth it because you can now go on with your life living like you are used to, at least for a while.

You begin having problems, and you are told that your hip implant is failing, and you need to be operated on again to remove the hip replacement. Then one day, you find out that the manufacturer had estimated that 37% of their products would fail within five years. Legally, Johnson & Johnson can withhold this kind of information from you, but should they? Should corporations release this kind of information to candidates for major surgeries?

By: Edward Lake

Staten Island Asbestos Exposure

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you worked on Staten Island, and you’re wondering, “How did you get this disease?” Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I could give you some information about how workers were exposed to asbestos on Staten Island. We know that on Staten Island there’s a major Con Edison powerhouse – the Arthur Kill Powerhouse – wherein, electrical power is generated, and steam lines are coded and covered with asbestos, and there’s asbestos products that was used throughout this powerhouse, which exposed the workers – who worked at the powerhouse – to asbestos. At the mouth of Newark Bay, was the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, where large ships were built and repaired. That work involved the use of asbestos products by all the tradesman who worked on those ships.

 Housing Boom Increased Exposure

During the course of the last century, there was a housing boom, and Staten Island was built up to become a very populated borough. In order to do that, homes, apartment buildings, and even government housing projects were built on Staten Island. All of that work was done by tradesmen – the union tradesmen, non-union tradesmen – and it involved the use of asbestos products in the building of all of those residential structures.

Now, you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and I’m sure you have questions about asbestos and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we answer questions from mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give our office a call, and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.