New York Personal Injury Laws

Iron Workers Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

You worked as an iron worker, and you’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you’re asking yourself, “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 that iron workers had to asbestos. In order to do that, I want to talk to you about a former client of mine who was a union iron worker. He dealt with structural steel which he installed and worked on, which was also being sprayed with asbestos containing fire proofing spray. Now, he would be on one area of a floor while the sprayers were following his working and spraying the structural steel with fire proofing. That entailed mixing the dry fire proofing product with water, putting it into a gun, and the fire proof sprayers would spray the I-beams and the structural steel with this asbestos containing substance. While that was being sprayed onto the I-beams and into the air, my client was in the work space breathing in any asbestos dust created by that. In addition, after the fire proofing spray dried, and the ceiling had to be put in, hangers had to be attached – metal hangers had to be attached to the structural steel so that the drop ceiling could be installed. In order to do that, the fire proofing spray had to be scraped off of the structural steel. It was dry by that point, and the scraping of the fire proofing which contained asbestos caused dust in the air which the iron workers breathed – including my client. He also worked doing some ornamental iron work, and that meant that he was present at job sites when the job was more in the finishing process; when the internal walls were being put up, when the floors were being put in, because he would be putting in such things as railings and other steel fixtures, in perhaps tenant spaces or common areas. He was exposed to the work of other trades men who worked with joint compound or floor tile or ceiling tiles. Things that contained asbestos, and working with those products caused dust in the air that all the workers on the job site would breathe in. All of them being susceptible to later being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Now, decades later, years and years after his work with asbestos and work around asbestos, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His doctors, after taking an occupational history, told him that his exposures to asbestos back on the work sites was the cause of his mesothelioma diagnosis. Now, I am telling you all this because you have questions about mesothelioma and about the types of exposures to asbestos that cause mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams, and at our office we deal with these issues every day. We represent victims of mesothelioma and their families as they pursue justice for exposures to asbestos. If you have questions, contact our office. We’ll answer your questions. Thanks for listening.

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.

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.

 Car Accident Attorney

When you’re in a car accident, there are many parties involved sometimes. There is the insurance company to deal with, the police department, your doctors. You need to have an experienced lawyer to help you work through your case who has your best interests in mind. Hire the Moore Law Firm. We have the experience and the resources to guide you through the process, and enable you to have piece of mind.

Boiler Makers Exposed to Asbestos

You’re a boiler maker, and you built boilers and powerhouses in large industrial and commercial buildings. Now, you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you’re trying to figure out all the ways that you could have been exposed to asbestos.

Hi. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I can answer questions about the ways that boiler makers were exposed to asbestos.

A union boiler maker built the boilers in the powerhouses, built the boilers in the largest structures in the cities in America. I can talk to you about one particular client of mine who was a union boiler maker, who worked in the local powerhouses here in New York City. His work involved construction and erecting huge multistory boilers, in some circumstances ten stories high, in powerhouses, in power generating stations. This work involved working with and sawing with a saw asbestos block, mixing asbestos cement and applying it to different parts of this boiler apparatus, using this mixed asbestos cement and applying it to steam pipes and hot water pipes, working with flange gaskets, cutting asbestos-containing gaskets to put between metal flanges on pipes, working with packing inside of valves and inside of pumps. This boiler maker that I’m speaking of, this former client of mine, was exposed to asbestos in all of these ways.

These are just some of the exposures that a boiler maker would have. You have questions about how a boiler maker was exposed to asbestos? We can answer those questions. I’m Joe Williams. At our office, we represent victims of mesothelioma everyday. I invite you to call our office at the number below and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Personal Injury Medical Process

It’s quite common in my experience for people to come into my office who think they have a soft tissue injury and they don’t realize the serious nature of the injury that they’ve sustained. A herniated disk is a good example of that. Sometimes people have herniated disk and they have pain in their back going down their legs to their feet, yet diagnostic tests don’t show the herniation and they can be wandering from doctor to doctor. At the Maurer Law Firm, we have a lot of experience with these types of injuries, and we have the resources so that we can assist you in obtaining a proper diagnosis and care.

Plasterers Exposed to Asbestos

You spent a career as a plasterer. Now you’ve been diagnosed with Mesothelioma and you’re wondering how it is that you got this terrible disease.

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a Mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City, and I certainly can answer these questions for you.

How Plasterers Became Exposed to Asbestos

We know that plasterers dealt with plaster every day of their working career. And back in the ‘50s and ‘60s and before that time interior structural walls in commercial building, and in residential as well, were made with plaster. And that means, as you know, that wire lath was installed within the wall and the plaster was a dry mixed product, mixed with water and applied to the lath and allowed to dry, then sanded down. And the amount of dust created from that sanding was tremendous in the workspace of every worker on that job site. And we know that many of these plaster products back in that timeframe contained asbestos.

Sometime in the ‘60s some of the building materials changed and we went from plaster walls to sheetrock walls. And that’s of course what’s in use today. The sheetrock nailed or screwed—used to be nailed, now they’re screwed to the studs, and they used to be wood studs now they’re mostly metal studs, between the seams of the sheetrock a product called joint compound was used to seal and smooth the walls in those areas. And also for all of the nail or screw holes where the sheetrock was attacked to the studs. And the joint compound on large construction sites was usually a dry product that was mixed with water and applied to the seams of the sheetrock and to the screw or nail holes. Additionally, that joint compound came in a premixed compound which was in a bucket or a can and it was already wet and it was applied to the wall in the same way on the seams of the sheetrock or on the screw or nail holes. And whether it started wet or dry, eventually it was made wet and put on the walls and allowed to dry. And once it dried it had to be sanded smooth. And multiple coats of this process was done and sanded down, all creating a lot of asbestos dust that plasterers and workers breathed.

So these are many of the ways that a plasterer would have been exposed to asbestos dust on a work site. Now, I’m sure you have many other questions about your work and how it could have caused you to be exposed to asbestos. Well, we have the answers. I’m Joe Williams. I invite you to call my office at the number below and we can discuss your case and the way you were exposed to asbestos.

We handle Mesothelioma cases every day. We represent the victims of asbestos exposure each and every day and we’ll be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

No-Fault Law

If you’ve been injured in an auto accident in New York, you need to know that under the no-fault law, there are reporting requirements that are essential to your claim being paid. First, you should know under the no-fault law, your own insurance company is going to be paying the bills for your treatment and your wage loss, not the other car’s insurance company. You need to report the accident promptly and your doctors who treat you have to submit their bills in a timely manner; otherwise, those bills won’t be paid. I can help you with your insurance questions when you’re involved in a car accident.

The Steps to Proving a Mesothelioma Case

How do we prove a case for a mesothelioma victim in court? Hi, I’m Joe Williams, I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City. I can tell you that in order to prove a mesothelioma case, a legal case for a victim in court the first thing that we have to do is we have to be able to prove that a particular company is responsible to that particular victim. So how do we do that? Well one of the primary ways that we establish that proof is through the victim’s own testimony at a pretrial deposition. Also, through their testimony at trial in which they talk about that particular company’s products and how they believe that product exposed them to asbestos. They generally talk about the dust that was created from the work that they did with that product. There’s also other ways that we prove that that particular company is responsible to our client. That’s in the form of employment records, work records, for navy seamen, men who served on navy ships. We get records from the US Naval Archive in Washington D.C. for that particular ship. Often these records show every piece of equipment that was ever put on those ships. So there’s many ways to prove one particular company’s responsibility to our client. The next thing we have to show is that that company new or should have known that asbestos was dangerous and that they never warned our clients about these dangerous. How do we do that? Well we do that through company documents, documents from that same company that failed to warn our clients about the dangers of asbestos through internal memorandums, through internal research documents. All of which that show that that company either knew or that they certainly should have known that asbestos was a danger and that they never warned our clients about the dangers of asbestos. The last thing generally that we have to show in a legal case for a mesothelioma victim is that our client was injured. Of course every mesothelioma victim suffers greatly. It’s not just them but their spouses and family suffer as well. We document that through the use of medical experts who talk about mesothelioma and it’s course on the human body. Also through that individual victim’s medical records. Also through the testimony of physicians sometimes the treating. Physicians who actually treated out client were able to document all of the different medical treatments and really all of the suffering that our client has gone through from the time of their first symptoms until the present day when we’re in court dealing with that mesothelioma case in front of a judge and jury. Now, you may have many more questions about all the ways that we seek to prove a mesothelioma case on behave of our client and we can answer those questions for you. I’m Joe Williams and in our firm we handle cases for mesothelioma victims everyday. This is what we do. It’s who we are. I encourage you to call the number on your screen below. That’s our office number and we’ll answer you questions as well. Thank you.