Your bridge to financial compensation for mesothelioma: the lawsuit

"I can't walk fast or walk up steps…If I do, I get out of breath. That's the indication that things are not as good as they were. A shortness of breath and severe chest pain…I have two children, one youngster twenty and a daughter sixteen. And I'm not sure they realize how serious it is."

F. Brooks, weeks before dying of asbestos-related cancer.

Mr. Brooks said the above quote in 1978. By that time, with floods of lawsuits being filed against asbestos companies, people were just starting to realize how serious the asbestos problem was. The asbestos companies, however, knew long before anyone else that asbestos causes mesothelioma cancer and other diseases. The Johns-Manville company (the largest US manufacturer of asbestos of its time) conducted a study on its own workers in the 1930’s to verify how harmful asbestos was. Out of 780 asbestos workers tested, 534 had developed changes in their lungs.

Kenneth W. Smith, the medical director for Johns-Manville, said in 1976 that the company "had to take into consideration the effects of everything they did, and if the applications of a caution label identifying a product as hazardous would cut out sales, there would be serious financial implications. [Johns-Manville judged] the necessity of the label versus the consequences of placing the label on the product.” (Multinationalmonitor)

What it boiled down to was numbers. If a company like Johns-Manville thought that saving your life by warning you of the dangers of asbestos would cause a decrease in profits, they simply did not warn you. This is why so many people in your position have turned to filing lawsuits against these companies.

Filing a mesothelioma lawsuit does not have to be a frightening experience. Having legal counsel as experienced in asbestos-related lawsuits as Weitz & Luxenberg means that you will be given time, guidance, and expert opinion during this process. Here are a few things to prepare for, know about, and be wary about in your legal experience.

Compensation can help cover the cost of all of your medical expenses, and provide you and your family with financial stability.

If you are ready to pursue financial compensation (i.e. a mesothelioma lawsuit), contact Weitz & Luxenberg by filling out the form on this page.

How to prepare

Take some time to go through your past. Perhaps opening some photo albums or looking over a journal would help. You will need to remember as best as you can all of the times that you were exposed to asbestos.

It may also help to try and remember what asbestos looked like. It was usually white, dusty, and insulated pipes and walls. Perhaps you handled some that looked like cotton or snow. Perhaps you worked with it regularly in a factory.

In a deposition or a trial, it is best to remember things clearly and confidently. If you cannot, try not to guess, and instead simply say, “I do not recall.”

Things to know

The legal process takes time. There is no miracle, overnight verdict. What will happen is that we will help you file a summons and complaint. This will let the companies you are suing know who you are and why you are bringing a lawsuit against them. Then, we have no choice but to wait to see how they decide to respond. Typically, they will order a deposition where they will ask you many questions about your work history and exposure to asbestos. Then, we wait again until they decide whether they want to settle or go to trial. Lawsuits have been known to take anywhere from months to many years to complete.

Everybody’s case is slightly different. The compensation you receive may not be exactly the same as the compensation your co-worker or cousin received. There are, at times, ways to combined many cases into one lawsuit. If, for instance, you worked at the same factory as someone else who is filing a lawsuit for asbestos exposure at that factory, then we may want to group the two of you together. We have done this many times in the past and it will never change the outcome of your case. It may speed up the lawsuit process, though.

Things about which you should be careful

During a deposition or during a trial, the attorneys of the defendants may ask you questions designed to confuse you or trip you up in some way. They may, for example, harp on one detail that you are unsure about in order to get you to contradict yourself. They want to discredit your testimony.

There are two ways to defend against this:

Try not to guess when answering a question. Just stay relaxed and calm, and answer to the best of your abilities. It is OK if you do not know the answer to a question. You can always say that you do not remember.
Your Weitz & Luxenberg attorney is never far. We cannot answer the questions for you, but we can call an objection if a question is out of line. During a deposition or a trial, we are listening intently to every word you say, as well as every word the other attorneys say. If they berate you, or ask an inappropriate question, we can jump in and stop it.

Also, the defendants may offer you a settlement amount that is lower than what you expected. Before taking it, talk with your Weitz & Luxenberg attorney to see if he or she advises against it. You may be able to receive a great deal more financial compensation by passing on their offer. Still, there are other factors that may contribute to why we would advise you to push for a settlement that may be somewhat lower than the maximum amount. This has to do with how advanced your mesothelioma has become, and whether it is too risky to try and pursue a greater amount of financial compensation.

We are here when you are ready

One of the great parts of being represented by a major law firm is that we have the patience to proceed with a lawsuit when you are ready to do so. We have handled asbestos lawsuits for over twenty years and we know how tough it can be on people. Weitz & Luxenberg wants to make this as easy of a process as possible.

Weitz & Luxenberg has secured more than $3 billion collectively for our clients. We have the resources to accurately pinpoint who is responsible for your illness, and prove that it was through their negligence that you developed mesothelioma.

We have been able to help individuals who have been exposed in a number of different ways. We helped a man secure a $16.25 million verdict for his mesothelioma as a result of working with asbestos-laced dental tape. We were also able to help former employees of the Brooklyn Navy yard secure a $104 million verdict against Johns-Manville for their illnesses caused by asbestos exposure. No matter how you were exposed, we can help you choose the right course of action so that you receive the compensation you deserve.

Whenever you are ready, you can contact us by filling out the form on this page, or giving us a call at (800) 476-6070. After you submit the form, a representative will be in touch with you within 24 hours.

Source

Multinationalmonitor: http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1987/04/asbestos.html