New York Personal Injury Laws

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.

Navy Machinist Mate Exposed to Asbestos

You are a machinist mate in the United States Navy, and you served our country, and all these years later you’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma. And you want to know how did I get this disease? Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you about the types of exposures to asbestos, that navy seamen and machinist mates encounter when they worked on navy ships.

I want to do that by talking about a former client of mine, and he actually was a machinist mate on a aircraft carrier. His work took place primarily in the boiler room. You probably know it as the fire room. He worked on all the equipment in the boiler room.

The boiler itself, as well as the pumps that pumped hot water and different fuels and oils for different uses throughout the ship. He dealt with all the systems for propulsion of the ship. And his work with the boiler involve dealing with the asbestos installation that was on this large marine boiler.

There was actually two of them on the ship. And he dealt with the asbestos installation, removing it, reinstalling it after his work. He dealt with asbestos gaskets as it related to the boiler. He dealt with the pumps that were throughout the boiler room and really throughout the ship, in particular the large boiler feed pumps.

He dealt with packing and gaskets that were made of asbestos, as well as insulation that was on the piping and on the pumps. He dealt with valves that were placed throughout the ships, and he also dealt with other equipment in the boiler room and throughout the ship.

The work that he did with asbestos products that included installation, gaskets, and packing, all of these exposures contributed to him developing mesothelioma many decades later. And his doctors informed him that it was those exposures to asbestos when he was in the navy years and years ago, that all these years later, only just a few years ago, caused him to be diagnosed with mesothelioma.

And that’s what’s expected with mesothelioma. The exposures happen, and then 20 to up to 60 years later the patient’s diagnosed with this cancer, mesothelioma. A cancer caused by asbestos. Now, you have questions about mesothelioma, and about the types of exposures that US Navy servicemen faced when they served our country on US Naval vessels.

I’m Joe Williams. At our office we handle cases for victims of mesothelioma and for their families every day. We deal with these issues on a daily basis. Call our office, we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

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

Protecting Your Rights

When you’re injured on the railroad, the railroad will do everything they can to minimize your wage loss claim. They’ll try to interfere with your medical treatment. They’ll harass you. They may fail to offer you overtime you’re entitled to receive under the contract. They can penalize you in many different ways but the Federal Railroad Safety Act says they can’t do that to you as an interstate railroad employee. You can file a claim with OSHA and if OSHA doesn’t decide the claim within seven months, you can bring a lawsuit in the federal district court. At the Maurer Law Firm, we know how to protect your rights under the Federal Railroad Safety Act.

Seeking Legal Help

You’ve been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma; you and your family are very stressed out, you’re not feeling well, and you want to wait a while before you take on perhaps the stresses of a legal case even though you know you were exposed to asbestos. Let me explain to you why that’s not a good idea.

Some Medical Information

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you about mesothelioma and why it’s important to get help right away in seeking justice for your mesothelioma diagnosis. I have next to me an anatomical drawing of a right-sided mesothelioma, and in this diagram we see a lung. The lung parenchyma here is represented by this tissue, and we can see it’s scarred and fibrotic, that’s called asbestosis, an indicator of a lot of asbestos exposure over a long period of time. And this area here, this yellowish-white area, is a malignant mesothelioma tumor.

This tumor grows in a diffuse pattern, and it’s been described as growing sort of like the rind on a grapefruit, and it grows and encases the lungs and causes shortness of breath, and as it grows and gets bigger and thicker a patient has more difficulty breathing; more difficulty expanding their lungs, because their lung are being collapsed by this tumor, which pushes against both the bony ribs, but the bony ribs don’t move, so it pushes against the spongy lung tissue and causes the lungs to contract and causes the patient to not be able to get a full breath, causes the patient to be short of breath.

As mesothelioma progresses, and unfortunately it progresses very, very quickly, over the course of months the mesothelioma tumor can grow outside of the lung and go from a stage 1 tumor to a stage 2, 3, or 4 tumor based upon the spread of the tumor to local and distant sites. And it’s important that mesothelioma is a malignancy that grows quite quickly, so it’s important that even though a person who’s a victim of mesothelioma is feeling quite lousy and is very upset it’s important at the onset, to seek out whatever legal help you’re going to seek.

So that that way qualified, confident people can get to work for you to help you seek justice while you’re strong, while you’re able to memorialize all your exposures to asbestos, while you’re able to discuss all the ways that you think that you were exposed to asbestos.

You have questions about mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams. At our office, we represent mesothelioma victims every day. I invite you to give a call to our office, we’ll answer your questions. Thank you very much.

Increase in Children with Autism

Today on You Be The Judge. The percentage of children with autism has skyrocketed during the past 30 years. Some people blame vaccinations, others say it only seems like autism has increased because we’re more aware of it.

Are Common Drugs Causing Autism

Imagine that you were taking drug X, then imagine that scientist have become curious about the effects of drug X on human health and behavior. They conduct extensive testing on lab animals, and conclude that there seems to be a direct link between the drug and harmful conditions found in a specific segment of the animal population. For instance, pregnant rates.

Next, imagine that you fit into that specific human population segment, and are possibly susceptible to the highly increased risk of the negative effects seen in animals caused by drug X.

Then imagine that there are known alternatives to drug X such as exercise, that have been found to be beneficial and possibly even more beneficial than the drug.

Finally, imagine that studies have shown that a placebo is just as effective as the drug X that you have been taking. How does all of this make you feel about drug X?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSIRs) Effect on Pregnancy

Now let’s take a look at a real life scenario that goes on today. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSIRs, are often found in antidepressants. These antidepressants are believed to affect serotonin.

Now, in a developing embryo, serotonin plays a critical role in the brain’s development, and many believe that autism is characterized by changes in the serotonin system. Therefore it seemed reasonable that taking these antidepressants during pregnancy might affect developing baby’s brain formation. Regarding these antidepressants, Doctor said, “It really shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, given that numerous animals studies have shown that exposure during development leads to changes in the brain and changes in behavior. Changes that often mimic autism.”

Studies Connecting Autism to Antidepressants

Authors of the mentioned animal studies warned that their findings of harmful effects should concern us when using these drugs on humans. Only two studies have been completed on the links between autism and antidepressants in humans.

The first study, a smaller one, published in 2011, found that children whose mothers took antidepressants are twice as likely to have autism. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal surveyed a much larger group, and it found that the use of antidepressants was associated with a risk of autism three times that of women not taking those drugs. The authors of these studies were cautious with their words as no one has conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial, RCT.

An RCT can most accurately assess causation. Now to conduct an RCT, pregnant would be required to take antidepressants in order for researchers to evaluate the effects on their babies. However, ethical issues have discouraged studying the negative effects of antidepressants during pregnancy. It’s fair to note that an RCT is not always necessary to presume that a problem exist.

For example, no Randomized Controlled Trial was conducted on cigarettes, yet nearly everyone acknowledges that they cause harm. Regarding pregnant women taking antidepressants, the latest studies suggest that non-drug approaches such as psychotherapy or exercise may serve the mother just as well, or perhaps even better than the antidepressant.

Finally, after years of research, there is little evidence that suggest that the antidepressants are clinically more effective than a placebo. Do you think there is something to be concerned about here? Should doctors recommend other treatments instead of antidepressants for pregnant women suffering from depression?

By: Edward Lake

Steamfitter Exposed to Asbestos

You’re a steamfitter. You’ve been working your entire life with asbestos gaskets and pipe covering, and now you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma. And you’re struggling with how you’re going to handle your case.

Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I’ve represented many, many steamfitters over the years. And I can tell you that their exposures are always the same. Steamfitters work with pipes and gaskets each and every day, and steamfitters help to build this city.

 How Steamfitters Became Exposed

And in so doing they worked at every powerhouse, built the powerhouses. And were exposed to those asbestos gaskets, they’re in-between the flanges of every pipe in those powerhouses. The pre-fabricated gaskets as well as the sheet gaskets that you cut with thick shears to fit over those flanges.

And then you take a hammer and pound through the flange where the bolt hole is, so that you can make that gasket fit securely. While you were doing your work, other trades were working around you. Insulators were insulating some of the very same pipes that you were working on.

And they were insulating equipment that was nearby to your work. And while you were working on these pipes and dealing with these flanges, you were attaching these pipes to large pieces of equipment like boilers or pumps.

And those pieces of equipment were covered with asbestos, causing you to be exposed again. Well, there are many ways that steamfitters were exposed to asbestos, both from their work and from the work of others in their working vicinity.

Why am I telling you this? Because you’ve been exposed to asbestos. Over the years I’ve represented many members of the local 638 steamfitters union here in New York City. And each of them has talked to me and talked in their deposition in their case about their exposures to asbestos gaskets, to asbestos insulation, asbestos pipe covering.

And if you’re a steamfitter, I’m sure you had many of the same exposures. I’m sure you have many questions about mesothelioma. Well, I have the answers to those questions. I’m Joe Williams, and I invite you to call me at my office at the number below, and we’ll answer your questions. We represent mesothelioma victims every day. This is what we do, and I’ll be happy to speak to you. Thank you.

Asbestos Exposure in Nassau County

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you worked in Nassau County, New York, and you’re wondering, “How did I get this disease?”. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney here in New York, and I can give you some information about asbestos exposures in Nassau County. We know that in Nassau County, LILCO – now it’s known as National Grid – had a powerhouse in Roslyn. We know that at these types of powerhouses, asbestos components were used by the workers during the construction of the powerhouse, and also during the repair and renovation work that’s done on an ongoing basis at a powerhouse like the one that existed in Roslyn, New York. We also know that in Nassau County, the population moved eastward from the city and the boroughs into Nassau and Suffolk Counties. And as that happened, there was a housing boom, and homes – residential homes – apartment buildings were built by union tradesmen, by workers, building Nassau County with their hands. When they did that, they used all manner of building materials, many of which, contained asbestos. The joint compound and sheetrock used to build walls in houses, the floor tile on the floors, the roofs of these homes, and other components as well, exposed these workers to asbestos dust.

Now, you have questions about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we help mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give us a call and we’ll answer your questions. Thanks.

Two Different Judicial Systems

Here in the United States, we have two separate and distinct judicial systems. Each state has its own court system, and the US Government has its own federal court system. An experienced attorney is going to know exactly whether or not your case belongs in state or federal court. At the Maurer Law Firm, we will be able to evaluate your case and tell you what’s in your best interest. If you have questions about where your case needs to be brought, call the Maurer Law Firm. I’ll be able to tell you exactly whether or not your case should be in state or federal court.