Asbestos Litigation
Each asbestos case is unique however the general procedure for defending against such claims is similar. Your attorney will want to conduct a deposition with the plaintiff.
A person's exposure to asbestos can be triggered by many places, not just an employer or a company. This is why asbestos cases usually involve multiple defendants.
Determining the Source of Exposure
The identification of asbestos exposure is an important step to file an asbestos claim. Often, the attorneys of victims can use medical documents to determine the source of asbestos. Elk Grove asbestos lawsuits can assist victims in obtaining compensation from companies responsible for their asbestos exposure.
Compensation is required by mesothelioma patients and their families to pay for the cost of expensive treatment. Compensation can help families cope with a mesothelioma diagnoses.
Asbestos lawsuits are complex legal cases, and 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 case. This includes responding quickly to requests for discovery and attending depositions in court.
Be aware 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 time frame could result in a denial on financial compensation.
In some instances victims have been exposed to asbestos-containing products made by various companies. In these cases, the victims lawyers may be required to identify the manufacturers of each product, as well as the contractors or employers who supplied the asbestos-containing products.
Asbestos litigation is the longest-running mass tort in American history, and it has been the cause of dozens of bankruptcy filings by asbestos manufacturers. Many of these companies established trust funds for asbestos victims. But asbestos defendants continue to challenge evidence linking asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, lung cancer or other respiratory ailments. This is in spite of the research of doctors such as Dr. Irving J. Selikoff and Dr. Jacob Churg.
The process of creating the Database
A lawsuit involving asbestos-related illnesses or mesothelioma differs from a typical personal injury claim. In many cases asbestos litigation, there are a lot of the same defendants (companies who are being sued), many of the same law firms representing plaintiffs and many of the same expert witnesses.
To develop a successful asbestos defense, attorneys need to have access to a vast database that will help them identify potential exposure sources. This includes reviewing the job site, talking to coworkers and obtaining documents from employers and suppliers. This involves locating and interviewing doctors or nurses who may be able be able to testify about asbestos exposure.
This type of database is difficult to create, particularly if the data has been lost over time. In these cases, it may be necessary to rebuild an entire insurance program and claims database, using multiple sources such as loss runs and claim files internal system and defense counsel records. It could take years, or decades to complete.
Asbestos lawyers should also have access to a program that allows them locate potential exposure sites and identify potential defendants. This information is available to attorneys can save time and money.
After the bankruptcy of many asbestos producers, plaintiffs' attorneys looked for new defendants for their lawsuits. As a result, asbestos cases in West Virginia have become defined by tri-annual consolidated trials where the volume is paramount and lawsuits that name less than 100 defendants are a rarity.
Identifying defendants
The majority of asbestos cases are founded by factual evidence that's later discovered. Asbestos companies denied for many years that their products could cause harm, but after lawsuits started, documents from the company exposed evidence of the dangers. These documents can be used to prove that specific products of the defendants caused injuries. To win a lawsuit, a plaintiff has to prove that the defendant's products were used in the work place, that he breathed in dust from the product and that the exposure was a major cause of his injuries.
Asbestos cases typically involve several defendants. The process of identifying them is different from a personal injury lawsuit. By interviewing coworkers and family members, reviewing invoices and work orders, getting documents from vendors and suppliers and analyzing asbestos samples collected from the plaintiff's workplace as well as home it is possible to establish an online database that links employers, locations, and products. The type of asbestos used - amosite, chrysotile, or crocidolite - is helpful in identifying defendants because each product is produced by an individual manufacturer.
The defendants are required to thoroughly look over these facts and identify all possible sources of exposure. This can include a look at more than 40 years of records from the Social Security, tax, union, and other records of the worker. Because the latency of asbestos injuries is so long, establishing an accurate database requires a lot of time and costly investigation.
Due to the high volume of asbestos cases and limited resources of many defendants in federal courts, many asbestos cases will be assigned to a multi-district lawsuit (MDL). This gives defendants to pool resources and also avoid duplicate discovery.
Case Development
Asbestos suits require a lot of study and examination of many documents. This can be a difficult task, since asbestos exposure often occurs years before a person is diagnosed with a disease. To determine the source of asbestos exposure, attorneys must conduct an interview and examine thousands of documents including employment records and union documents tax files, social security files, medical and lab reports.
The attorneys representing the plaintiffs must do their best to locate additional defendants. In many cases, the number of defendants could be as high as 30 or 40. To accomplish this they need to 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 extremely long and time-consuming, particularly when a claimant is suffering from mesothelioma or other serious diseases. In addition, it is often difficult to locate witnesses and obtain physical evidence.
A mesothelioma lawyer will establish all potential defendants, and their relationship to victim's exposure. This could require a thorough examination of more than 40 years of the victim's life via interviews and a review of their social security, union, labor and tax records.
A successful asbestos litigation strategy relies on extensive experience in a complicated area of law. At McGivney, Kluger, Clark & Intoccia We have been at the forefront of asbestos litigation since our founding back in 1994. We are the national leaders in defending firms involved in industry-wide, multi-jurisdictional litigation. We serve as National Coordinating Counsel and liaison counsel as well as coordinating the interests of many different defendants including product manufacturers distributors, suppliers, and contractors. We have extensive experience in creating and establishing key defenses as well as expert witness testimony and jurisdictional Case Management Orders.
Prepare for Trial
Lawyers must meticulously prepare their cases ahead of trial to ensure that their clients can present the strongest evidence and arguments possible. This involves reviewing medical records and preparing all witnesses. It also involves identifying exhibits that will be used at the trial. The process can take years long in complex cases.
Many asbestos sufferers have a less severe illness like asbestosis, fibrous or pleural plaques prior to the mesothelioma's onset. Asbestosis can cause chest pain, coughing, and breathing problems.
Lawyers for asbestos victims must also examine the evidence in order to identify potential defendants that might be accountable for the asbestos injuries. This includes interviewing family members, colleagues asbestos abatement workers, asbestos abatement employees and asbestos manufacturers, in addition to getting various documents.
Once a lawyer has identified a possible defendant, they must then determine the liability of the person. The defendants can be businesses, individuals, or government agencies. They are accountable for their negligent acts.
Several legislative remedies to resolve asbestos litigation have been suggested in Congress. However, these efforts have not been successful due to a number of complex political reasons. Asbestos victims and their lawyers are still committed to holding negligent asbestos companies accountable for their actions.
The law firm of Waters Kraus & Paul has handled hundreds of cases throughout New York state and across the nation. Our lawyers have held asbestos manufacturers 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 who have expertise in asbestos matters.
The Asbestos Litigation Group is open to AAJ Regular, Life, Sustaining and President's Club members. Members meet and discuss legal issues and strategies on the Group's only for plaintiffs list server during the annual and winter conventions and in educational seminars on asbestos litigation.