ASBESTOS IN NEW YORK
Two Utica, NY, men receive prison terms for asbestos violations

March 3, 2009 -- Two Utica, NY men were recently sentenced for their role in fraudulent asbestos removal and disposal practices in upstate New York.

Both were convicted last year of falsifying air quality tests in order to conceal their illegal handling of asbestos, a known cancer-causing agent that can lead to mesothelioma. Their illegal acts, according to government prosecutors, left significant amounts of asbestos materials in areas where human exposures were either possible or had actually occurred.

According to the charges, both defendants had contaminated a number of private residences and commercial structures with asbestos, including Utica's Strand Theater. They were also charged with the illegal burial of asbestos on a local farm, an act that cost thousands of dollars to clean up.

One man was sentenced last week to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay $854,000 in restitution payments to defrauded clients. The other received only two years confinement and $115,000 in restitution. A third man, convicted of more serious offenses, will be sentenced on March 13 and faces 25 years to life in prison and up to a $1.25 million fine.

About asbestos

Scientific investigations since the 1970s have confirmed the fact that asbestos exposure to can lead to serious respiratory diseases, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable form of lung cancer.

Government sources estimate that in the next decade more than 35,000 people nationwide will be diagnosed with mesothelioma, most often the result of industrial workplace exposure to asbestos – and usually contracted through employers’ blatant disregard for the health and safety of their workers. That’s why workers diagnosed with mesothelioma and their family members have strong cases in court.

Time to seek justice!

Weitz & Luxenberg has protected the legal rights of workers for 25 years. In that time the firm's mesothelioma lawyers have won more than a billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients.

In 2007, Weitz & Luxenberg secured a $37 million asbestos verdict in two lung cancer cases. The firm’s successes in the asbestos arena reach as far back as 1991, when its lawyers won an historic consolidated trial for men who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1940s and 1950s, when asbestos use flourished. Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. represented 36 clients in that case, and secured verdicts of $75 million.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, please notify us through the communication form below. We will pursue your claim with vigilance to help you pay for medical bills, future and past lost wages, and damages. There is no cost to you until we win a verdict or negotiate a settlement.