New York Personal Injury Laws

Companies That Caused Asbestos Exposure Went Bankrupt

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you’ve learned that some or all of the companies that were responsible for exposing you to asbestos have gone bankrupt. What do you do?

Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City. I can tell you that in every mesothelioma case that we handle, there’s two claims. One, as against all of those companies who are still in business, who are viable, still conducting business, and we bring a civil lawsuit against them related to their liability to our client for causing our clients mesothelioma.

The second type of claim is administrative claims involving the bankruptcy trusts that had been set up by all of those companies that have declared bankruptcy over the course of the past decades in order to avoid the civil liability associated with these lawsuits related to mesothelioma and asbestos.

So how are those claims filed? Well, we elicit exposure information from our clients regarding their exposure to the products made by these bankrupt companies. We then take that exposure information and we submit it to the trust that had been set up, and the trust reviews the evidence and the exposure information that was submitted. It’s important to remember that these trusts were set up because these companies, these corporations, declared bankruptcy, and their bankruptcy

Putting Together a Mesothelioma Case

How is a lawsuit started for a mesothelioma victim? Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City. I can tell you that the first thing that is done to start a mesothelioma case, is a very thorough investigation.

 Gathering Evidence

And one of the most important parts of that investigation is, a conversation with the victim of mesothelioma and with their family. And during those conversations, and they’re just general talks in the victim’s home, we talk about all the ways that that victim could have been exposed to asbestos during the course of their life.

In all the different settings, whether it’ll be at work, at home, through family members, environmentally. We talk about all the possible exposures that that particular person could have had. We then take that information and do a thorough work-up of the case.

An investigation of job sites, of different places where exposure to asbestos could have happened for this particular victim. We then take all that information and we formulate a legal document. It’s called a summons and complaint.

 What To Do With the Evidence

And a summons and complaint is the document that starts off a legal case. It basically accuses the defendants, the companies the cases are brought against, of wrongdoing as it relates to this particular mesothelioma victim.

That document is prepared, and because mesothelioma victims are suffering, and because time is of the essence, and timing is very important, it’s important to know that in New York state and in many states, we are able to file this document electronically.

We file it immediately. It’s filed electronically, and then we serve the document through our process service on these companies in every state in the United States. And this whole process can happen within days.

We move at light speed with respect to mesothelioma cases because of the nature of this disease. You may have many more questions about how a mesothelioma case is started, and we can provide the answers to your questions.

I’m Joe Williams. At our office we represent mesothelioma victims and their families every day. These are the kinds of cases that we handle each and every day, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions. I encourage you to call the number on your screen below, that’s my office number, and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Mesothelioma Trust Fund

Mesothelioma victims may have access to trust funds which are in excess of 30 billion dollars designed to compensate them for their diagnosis of mesothelioma. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to give you some information about the trust funds that have been put into place as a result of certain asbestos companies declaring bankruptcy.

 Corporate Response

Now over the course of the last decades, there have been more and more lawsuits against the entities, the corporate entities, that made or used asbestos products and caused exposure to workers, which gave them mesothelioma. In order to avoid the liability of these lawsuits, many of these companies, these corporate entities, have sought out in the bankruptcy courts to reorganize their business. The goal being to allow them to stay in business, but to also compensate the people who were diagnosed with mesothelioma.

 Setting Up the Trust

There’s a process involved, and eventually the court must approve the amount that is put into trust by the corporate entity. Once that’s done, and the trust is set up, current and future claimants, people who get mesothelioma, can make claims against those trusts, claims based upon the specifics and the evidence of their asbestos exposures.

Now it’s important to know that there’s up to 60 different trusts that have been established over time, and these trusts are funded with different amounts. But the total amount is in excess of 30 billion dollars.

 Questions or Concerns, Call Us

I’m Joe Williams. At our firm, we deal with mesothelioma victims and their families and the different claims that they have available to them every day. You have questions about mesothelioma, and about the asbestos bankruptcy trusts that have been set up to compensate victims of mesothelioma and their families, I invite you to call our office. We can answer your questions. Thank you.

Stresses of Mesothelioma

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma. You’re suffering, you’re feeling lousy, and you’re just not sure if you’re going to go ahead and pursue your legal rights from your exposure to asbestos. Perhaps it’s just too difficult, or too much to handle right now. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City. I’d like to talk to you about the stresses that a client faces when dealing with a diagnosis of mesothelioma.

This diagnosis is a terrifying diagnosis. The doctor sits you down, and perhaps after a biopsy, talks about this bizarre word, mesothelioma, that you probably never heard before. Perhaps tells you about what it is and what can happen, and all of the very fearful things that you could be in for as a victim of mesothelioma. Perhaps the very last thing in the world you’re thinking about is, “Well, let me pursue a legal case related to my asbestos exposure.” My response to you is, I totally understand. A lot of my clients say the same thing. It’s a very normal reaction.

What I tell my clients, and I’ve had many clients say this to me, and what I always tell them is, as the lawyers who for a living every day represent victims of asbestos exposure, persons who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, at least half of our task is focused on taking those stresses away from you. Handling your case in such a way so that it doesn’t stress you out. Not bothering you with all the minute details and stressors that you don’t need in your daily life.

Things like a deposition – that sounds like a horribly daunting thing to have to go through. Well, in most mesothelioma depositions that we do, we either go to the victim’s home, or we do the deposition in a hotel conference room right near their house, so that they don’t have to travel. Travelling for someone who’s sick is very difficult. It’s really the last thing you want to do is get in a car, or a car service, and travel out to a lawyer’s office. In my circumstance, my office in New York City.

Things like signing papers. In a normal case, clients travel to the lawyer’s office. In a mesothelioma case, the lawyer for a mesothelioma victim understands what the victim is going through. We go to you. The lawyers go to your house. We sit with you, and talk about your concerns and your problems.

Medical bills – these kinds of things stress out the family members, and the victim themselves, all these medical bills that pile up. Well, it’s important to have a process in place to deal with the bills from Medicare, and to deal with the bills as they pile up, and to know that in a mesothelioma case, one of the claims in the case is for repayment of those very medical bills. The point I’m trying to make

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.

Mesothelioma Diagnosis

How is mesothelioma diagnosed? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City and I can tell you that there’s generally two ways that physicians – doctors – diagnose mesothelioma.

Clinical Diagnosis

The first way of diagnosing mesothelioma is a clinical diagnosis. That means that a doctor is evaluating a patient’s presenting symptoms to draw a picture as to what this patient could be suffering from. So the things that are evaluated are things like shortness of breath. Often with mesothelioma victims fluid builds up – it’s called a pleural effusion – but it’s basically just a build up of fluid between the bony rib cage and the lungs and when the fluid builds up it pushes on both the ribs and the lungs. The ribs don’t move, they’re made of bone, so it pushes in and impacts the lungs, makes it harder for the patient to breathe. Shortness of breath is a known symptom of mesothelioma. General fatigue and weakness, weight loss – substantial weight loss, unexplained, in a short period of time – is another factor, another symptom that physicians will use to clinically diagnose or be suspicious of mesothelioma.

Definitive Diagnosis

For mesothelioma victims, the definitive diagnosis comes in the form of a biopsy, and for pleural mesothelioma it’s a biopsy of the pleura. The pleura is the lining on the outside of the lung sometimes referred to as a saran wrap like substance that lines the exterior – the outside – of the lung and doctors will take a biopsy of that surface to determine if a patient has mesothelioma. And how is that biopsy taken? Well, it’s usually taken through a surgical technique and I’d say the most common one would be a video-assisted thoracostomy sometimes known as a vat, V-A-T, a video-assisted thoracostomy. The doctors go in with several instruments, one of which has a camera on it, and the surgeon – the doctor – can visualize the area in the chest where the mesothelioma could be, and with other instruments – and again this is a minimally invasive technique – the physicians can take a biopsy, a piece of flesh.

That biopsy material is then taken and sent to a pathology lab within the hospital. And the pathologist, they’re a specialized doctor who deals with diagnosing disease from looking at a slide. The flesh is put onto a slide and for mesothelioma victims the slides are often stained in certain ways so that different cell types can be visualized when the pathologist looks under a microscope at the slide. That pathologist then writes out a report – it’s called a pathology report – and the pathology report is a very important piece of paper that becomes part of that patient’s medical case because it definitively diagnoses their disease, and it becomes a very important part of their legal case because it definitively diagnoses them as having been a victim of pleural mesothelioma.

I’m sure you have many other questions about how mesothelioma is diagnosed. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm we handle cases every day for mesothelioma victims. This is what we do every day and we can answer your questions. I encourage you to call our office at the number below and we’d be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

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.

Superbug CRE Linked to Infection, Disease and Death

Could a common medical device used in endoscopic procedures be linked to one of the most deadly diseases of our time? Let’s take a look at the facts. Antibiotic overuse and a nightmare of superbug have taken a heavy toll on Americans. As new drug-resistant diseases flourish in hospitals. What’s more, an estimated 40,000 harmful and lethal errors occur everyday in medical facilities. The Center for Disease Control reported that 1 in 25 patients develop a hospital acquired infection. In 2011, an estimated 722,000 hospital patients contracted an infection while under acute care. 75,000 died as a result.

A superbug called CRE, carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae appeared in 2001 in the United States. CRE is resistant to a class of antibiotics called carbapenem which are often used as a last resort against deadly bacterial infections. More than 500,000 patients undergo endoscopic procedures using duodenoscopes in the US every year. These medical devices are used for diagnosing and treating cancers, gallstones and other digestive ailments.

Use of Duodenoscope

A duodenoscope is a thin, flexible fiber optic tube that is inserted down the patient’s throat to allow a doctor to examine an organ. The problem for patients, is that the intricate design of the device makes it extremely difficult to disinfect. Even meticulously cleaning the devices does not eliminate the risk of transmitting infection. The design allows for efficient procedures while leaving the patient at risk for infections passed from other patients. Even if cleaned according to the manufacturer’s instructions, the risk of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections persists. For years, hospitals, clinicians, the CDC and researchers have been warning the Food and Drug Administration about the problems associated with procedures using duodenoscopes.

John Allen, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine tells us that we have known about this even as early as 1983 or 1984. With half a million patients undergoing procedures involving the duodenoscope, which is difficult to properly sterilize, patients are left with questions about their safety. Researchers give little hope regarding CRE, saying that, there is little chance that an effective drug to kill CRE bacteria will be produced in the coming years.

CRE Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Given the lack of available information, many have pursued medical malpractice claims after lost of loved ones or suffering severe illness and having to be hospitalized for months. Now, we are able to see the problem is not with the medical facility, as they have been given a device which is at its core defective without proper means of sterilizing. Share this video today. Americans have suffered in hospital beds for months because of how little these facts are publicized.

Share this video with your friends and family, so that they can be aware of the risks of this seemingly harmless procedure. If you think that you or a loved one has suffered from a superbug after undergoing a duodenoscopic procedure, call our team today. We have worked with people like you across the nation. It cost you nothing to consult with our team. We only get paid if and when you get compensated. Call today for a free consultation at 888-LAW-8500. That’s 888-529-8500 and visit us online at lawyersusa.com/superbug.

By: Steven Gacovino

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.