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September 9, 2009
Asbestos Law Suits
I see all the ads on TV about law firms, who are looking for some sort of asbestos cancer victims and want to fight in court. I just curious, who are they go after? Is it building owners or the companies who installed asbestos or the employers, who let their employee work in bad environment?
I mean if a plumber whole his life worked in basements full of asbestos pipe insulation and none of this asbestos damaged his lungs and then he sniffs his break pads once and this is where he gets one bite of asbestos which kills him. How do this lawyers prove anything?
Comments
bobjohn, Did you work in the Deutsche Bank building? Just kidding!
If the lawyers are decent, they go after everyone, absolutely everyone. It would be up to the accursed to prove they are innocent.
Posted by: modsquad at September 9, 2009 12:30 PM
It's true that they can go after everyone but depending on the evidence they may only go after those they have a case against. For example, if you worked in the Navy, you can't go after the government but you can go after the manufacturer of the product. A lot of the evidence is based on identifying products/makes/versions that a person worked with and knowing that those things had asbestos; this comes out in depositions. Also, many companies, now bankrupt or not, have funds set aside for cases like these. Also, often times they group folks together rather than trying just one case. I hope that helps.
Posted by: realestate2point0 at September 9, 2009 12:36 PM
modsquad: I do not, but I pass it all the time when walk between Maiden Lane and Wall St.
Posted by: bobjohn at September 9, 2009 12:46 PM
Having represented brake pad liner companies in asbestos lawsuits, among others, in my former life, I will tell you that plaintiffs will sue just about anyone who could have been working at the job site during the period in question. So, let's say you had a steamfitter who was working at the WTC while it was being constructed and who later contracted asbestosis or mesothelioma. Any company that was on site will be sued. Manufacturers of asbestos foam, valve manufacturers, acoustic tile mfgs.--everyone would be sued with the thought that nobody had enough proof to get out of the case and in the end, everyone would contribute to a settlement. This was the case 99% of the time. I even had a case where a former steamfitter sued on bhelaf of his deceased wife who contracted mesothelioma after washing his work clothes for 20 years. That was a sad case.
Posted by: tiptoe at September 9, 2009 2:20 PM
bobjohn, this is a regular thing, all the players know their parts.
First, there is a list of companies, that I used to be on, that get sued anytime there is an asbestos lawsuit.
As it takes time and a lot of exposure to asbestos to get you ill (and usually you have been a smoker) it is assumed that every company anywhere that made asbestos contributed to the illness, like tiptoe said.
Some of the big asbestos lawyers were on the Forbes 400 list for a while... it used to be the most lucrative law you could practice. Less so now as so many companies have been put out of business.
And usually by the time the plaintiffs pay, the injured is already dead. But not the lawyers.
Posted by: denton at September 9, 2009 4:00 PM
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