A Statement from Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C. to Smokers and Former Smokers: Asbestos Exposure Multiplied Your Risk for Lung Cancer

August 6, 2007, New York, NY—Sitting before the U.S. Senate two years ago, Dr. Philip Landrigan, the Chair of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, testified, “asbestos workers who also smoke[d] have 55 times the background risk of lung cancer.” Further, according to Perry Weitz, the founding member of Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., a leading asbestos law firm, “if smokers who are exposed to asbestos smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, their risk of getting lung cancer is more than a 100 times that of a person who does not smoke and isn't exposed to asbestos.” The courts have found in favor of smokers exposed to asbestos with multimillion dollar damages punctuated by a recent jury verdict won by Weitz & Luxenberg P.C.

“Cigarettes are addictive, asbestos is not. All that was needed to protect people from asbestos-related lung cancer was a warning,” says Perry Weitz.

In May, the firm obtained a jury verdict of $37 million for two smokers with lung cancer who had been exposed to asbestos; adding another victory to its long record of success in asbestos litigation (index #s 100016/99 and 113583/05, New York Supreme Court). The defendant was Robert A. Keasbey Company, a former insulation contractor and distributor of asbestos products.

The jury determined that the occupational exposures to asbestos of both men were "substantial factors" in causing their lung cancers and rejected the defense that the sole cause of their lung cancers was smoking.

“While other law firms shy away from fighting asbestos companies on behalf of lung cancer patients who smoked and were exposed to asbestos, our firm has consistently disproved the commonly held perception that only tobacco companies can be held liable for lung cancer,” says Perry Weitz.

Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., has many notable successes with asbestos cases including mesothelioma. In 2006, the firm secured a $25 million jury verdict in a trial against DaimlerChrysler AG for a New York City brake reliner who lost his right lung to mesothelioma. In 2002, the firm won a $53 million verdict for a brake mechanic suffering from mesothelioma and a $49 million verdict for a boilermaker who died from mesothelioma. Successes reach as far back as 1991, when the firm won a historic consolidated trial for men who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1940s and 1950s. Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. represented 36 clients in that case, securing verdicts of $75 million. The firm represents tens of thousands of individuals suffering from asbestos related diseases.

Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C. offers free case reviews from www.weitzlux.com. People who have been harmed by asbestos can contact Weitz & Luxenberg via the form below.