Asbestos Litigation
Every asbestos case is different however, the general procedure for defending against claims based on asbestos is the same. Your lawyer will ask you to take a deposition of the plaintiff.
The cause of asbestos exposure could be many, not just one employer or company. This is the reason asbestos cases usually involve multiple defendants.
Identifying the source of exposure
Recognizing asbestos exposure is a crucial step in submitting an asbestos claim. Attorneys for victims can often use medical records to determine the source of asbestos. This can help victims receive compensation from the companies responsible for their asbestos exposure.
Mesothelioma victims and their families are entitled to compensation to pay for mesothelioma treatments. Compensation can also assist families in dealing with the emotional burden of a mesothelioma diagnosis.
Scottsdale asbestos lawsuit are complicated legal proceedings, and the victims need to know their rights and the way in which the process operates. Attorneys can handle a variety of aspects of a case, they are expected to be involved in the process. This includes responding to discovery requests and attending depositions.
Remember that the statutes are limited in New York, and you should seek advice from an asbestos lawyer as soon as you can. Failure to file a claim within the appropriate timeframe could result in a denial on financial compensation.
In some cases asbestos-containing products manufactured by several companies have been used to expose victims. In these cases, victims' attorneys will be required to identify all asbestos-containing products, and the contractors and employers who supplied the asbestos-containing products.
Asbestos litigation is the longest-running mass tort in American history. It has been the cause of hundreds of bankruptcy filings from asbestos manufacturers. Many of these companies have set up trust funds to pay compensation to asbestos victims. However asbestos defendants continue to deny the evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma or lung cancer. This is despite research conducted by doctors like Dr. Irving J. Selikoff Dr. Jacob Churg, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond among others.
The process of creating an Database
A mesothelioma lawsuit or other asbestos-related illnesses is different from any typical personal injury lawsuit. In a lot of asbestos litigation cases, plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms as well as the same expert witnesses.
To build a strong asbestos defense, attorneys need to have access to a vast database that will help them identify potential exposure sources. This involves reviewing the job site, talking to coworkers, and obtaining documents from employers and suppliers. The process also involves finding and interviewing nurses and doctors who can testify about asbestos exposure.
Developing this type of database can be challenging particularly in situations where the data has been lost or destroyed over the course of time. If this happens it could necessitate the reconstruction of a complete claims database as well as an insurance program, usually from multiple sources like loss runs claims files, internal systems, and defense counsel records. It can take years, or years to complete.
Asbestos lawyers should also have access to a software that allows them locate potential exposure sites and to identify potential defendants. The information that is at the fingertips of lawyers can help save time and money.
Following the massive bankruptcies of asbestos producers attorneys for plaintiffs sought new defendants to name in their lawsuits. In the end, asbestos cases in West Virginia have become defined by tri-annual consolidated trials where the volume is paramount and suits that name fewer than 100 defendants are not common.
Identifying the Defendants
The truthful basis of asbestos cases is usually established through discovery. Asbestos companies denied for many years that their products could cause harm, but when lawsuits began the company's documents provided evidence of the dangers. These documents can help plaintiffs prove that specific defendants' products caused their injuries. To prevail in a lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's products were used in his workplace, that he inhaled dust from the product, and that exposure to the product was a major cause of his injuries.
Since asbestos cases contain multiple defendants, the process of identifying defendants is different from an ordinary personal injury case. The key is to build an information database that links employers and their locations, as well as products. This is done by speaking with relatives and coworkers as well as reviewing work orders and invoices, obtaining documents from vendors and suppliers, and analyzing samples from the plaintiff's home as well as workplace websites. It can also help to identify defendants if one knows the type of asbestos such as amosite or chrysotile.
Defendants must carefully review the facts and determine the possible sources of exposure, which could involve a thorough examination of more than 40 years of a person's life through Social Security, union, tax and other records. Due to the lengthy latency of asbestos-related injuries, it's difficult and expensive to establish an accurate database.
Because of the large numbers of cases and the limited resources of many defendants asbestos cases are often referred to multi-district litigation (MDL) in federal courts. This practice allows defendants to share resources and prevent duplicate discovery.
Making a Case
Asbestos lawsuits require a lot of investigation and the review of a large number of documents. This can be particularly difficult since exposure to asbestos often occurred long before the victim was diagnosed with a disease. To pinpoint the source of asbestos exposure, lawyers must conduct interview and carefully examine thousands of documents, such as employment records and union documents tax files, social security files, medical and lab reports.
The lawyers representing the plaintiffs must also do everything they can to identify other defendants. In some cases, there can be as many as 40 defendants. To accomplish this, they must look further down the supply chain and research entities with a possible nexus to asbestos, even if they haven't been named in the lawsuit.
This process can be very long, particularly when the plaintiff suffers from mesothelioma or any other serious illness. In addition, it can be often difficult to locate witnesses and get physical evidence.
A mesothelioma lawyer will identify the potential defendants and their relationship to victim's exposure. This may involve a thorough review over the past 40 years of a victim's life, which may include interviews as well as a review of their social security as well as labor, union, and tax records.
A successful asbestos litigation strategy requires extensive experience in this complex area of law. At McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia, we have been at the forefront of asbestos litigation since our inception in 1994 and are experts in the nation's defense of firms involved in industry-wide, multi-jurisdictional litigation. We are the National Coordinating Counsel and liaison counsel, representing and representing the interests of a variety of different defendants, including product manufacturers distributors, suppliers, and contractors. We have extensive experience creating and implementing key defenses such as expert testimony and jurisdictional Case Management Orders.
Prepare for the trial
Lawyers need to carefully prepare their cases ahead of trial so that their clients can present the strongest arguments and evidence possible. This includes reviewing medical records and making sure that all witnesses are prepared. It also involves identifying exhibits that will be used during the trial. This process can be several years in the case of complex cases.
Before developing mesothelioma, many asbestos patients develop a lesser disease, such as asbestosis or the pleural plaque or pleural fibrosis. Asbestosis symptoms include tightening of the lungs that could cause breathing problems, coughing and chest pain.
Asbestos victims' attorneys must also carefully review the evidence to identify any possible defendants who could be held responsible for the asbestos-related injuries. This may involve interviewing coworkers, family members, abatement workers, asbestos manufacturers and obtaining a variety.
Once a lawyer has identified a potential defendant, they must determine the liability of that person. The defendants could be individuals, businesses or government agencies. They are accountable for their actions that were negligent.
Many legislative solutions to solve asbestos litigation have been suggested in Congress. These efforts haven't been successful due to a variety of complicated political factors. Asbestos victims and their lawyers remain determined to hold negligent asbestos companies accountable for their actions.
Waters Kraus & Paul is a law firm that has handled a variety of cases in New York State and across the country. Our lawyers have held asbestos producers insurance companies, asbestos manufacturers, and other responsible parties accountable. In Upstate New York asbestos litigation is centralized into five judicial districts, where cases are assigned by judges with experience in asbestos-related matters.
The Asbestos Litigation Group is open to AAJ Regular Life, Life, Sustaining, and President's Club members. Members network and discuss legal issues and strategies on the group's plaintiff-only list server, at annual and winter conventions and participate in educational seminars on asbestos litigation.