11 Ways To Completely Redesign Your Asbestos Lawsuit History

Asbestos Lawsuit History

Lawyers like Stanley Levy have helped many asbestos victims. Patients suffering from mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases can sue companies who produced, mined, or used asbestos and asbestos-containing products.

The first asbestos lawsuit was filed by Nellie Kershaw. She was diagnosed with health issues while working in an asbestos fiber manufacturing plant in England. She died at age 33 of fibrosis of the lung due to asbestos exposure.

The First Cases

Asbestos is a hazardous mineral that has afflicted or killed thousands of people over time. Asbestos claims are filed for a variety of reasons, but the majority involve those who were exposed to asbestos while at work. This includes employees who worked in factories that produced asbestos-related products, or on the construction site of buildings with asbestos. It can also be those who were exposed to asbestos through household products such as talcum powder.

Exposure to asbestos can cause various diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other respiratory problems. While some of these ailments are extremely serious and could be fatal, many people have been able to obtain compensation for their injuries. This is because many countries have laws that require companies that create dangerous substances to warn those who could be hurt by them.

The first asbestos lawsuit, filed in 1929, was filed by a woman with the name of Anna Pirskowski. She was suffering from a range of ailments, including breathlessness and thickening of the fingertip tissue, which is known as clubbing. She was awarded a settlement of $75,000 in what is believed to be a first class action lawsuit that involved asbestos.

Asbest lawsuits continued to be filed throughout the years that followed. Asbestos litigation became a very large area of law, and many lawyers began to specialize in asbestos litigation. This meant that they only dealt with the most serious cases. One firm that did this was Kazan Law, which in the late 1980s began to concentrate on taking on cases for people with mesothelioma.

Other lawsuits were won by those who suffered from other asbestos-related illnesses like asbestosis or pleural plaques. This is because the condition that caused these was like mesothelioma making it more straightforward for lawyers to prove. These claims also led to the disclosure of secret documents that demonstrated how manufacturers of asbestos products tried to hide the dangers. In 1989 the Asbestos Ban & Phase Out Rule was enacted.

The Second Cases

As the number diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases grew the number of victims and their families began to file lawsuits. These lawsuits were filed against companies who mined asbestos, made asbestos-containing products or sold products containing asbestos. Mesothelioma victims also filed lawsuits against companies that designed and constructed the structures where they worked such as power plants, shipyards and refineries. The connection between mesothelioma and asbestos exposure is very strong.

By the early 1980s, the legal battle over asbestos lawsuits began to get more intense and the courts ruled on many aspects of the case procedure. For example a federal court decided that only people suffering from a malignant asbestos-caused disease such as mesothelioma or lung cancer are eligible to file an action against the makers of asbestos-related products they employed. The ruling, dubbed Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. is a major setback to asbestos plaintiffs.

Around the same time, Nellie Kershaw from Rochdale in England was the first to file what is now seen as the first well-known lawsuit filed against asbestos companies. Kershaw, who had been diagnosed with lung issues due to her close contact with asbestos fibers, attempted to get the firm she worked for to pay for her treatments. The company was unable to pay. Kershaw died in her 30s from fibrosis.

The second wave of asbestos cases centered on workers who worked in construction sites and were exposed types of asbestos-containing building materials, including fireproofing sprays, drywall materials and textures. Asbestos lawyers also prevailed in cases against companies that made the equipment that utilized asbestos-containing materials, like pumps and boilers.

During this time, many documents that implicated asbestos companies were uncovered. These documents showed their involvement in fraud and conspiracies. The documents included personal files of Johns-Manville President Sumner Simpson and correspondence from the general attorney of another asbestos producer, Raybestos Manhattan. These documents revealed the plot of these companies to cover up the fact that asbestos was dangerous and to thwart efforts to inform the public about the dangers.

The discovery of these, and other forms of corporate fraud and conspiracy in the early to mid-1980s caused a surge of class action settlements as well as other attempts to limit asbestos lawyer liability for asbestos-related companies. These efforts were met with massive opposition from plaintiffs' attorneys and their clients as well as the public.

The Third Case

In the 1970s, asbestos companies had lost the ability to keep information about the deadly effects of mesothelioma as well as other asbestos-related diseases from the general public. This was largely due to the fact that the link between asbestos and diseases like mesothelioma, asbestosis, and respiratory diseases like asthma began receiving attention from major national publications instead of small industry newsletters or medical journals. When the link between asbestos and serious illnesses was well-established, victims began making lawsuits against asbestos producers.

One of the major factors that pushed an increase in asbestos lawsuits in the 1970s was a ruling by the courts that allowed plaintiffs to use the legal concept of strict liability. In the past asbestos lawsuits, plaintiffs had to show that asbestos manufacturers were negligent in the way they caused their asbestos exposures. However in the 1973 case of Borel v. Fibreboard, a judge ruled that asbestos manufacturers were accountable for any injuries their products caused in the event that the company knew their product was dangerous and failed to warn its employees or the public about the dangers.

In the wake of this ruling, a number of asbestos producers were forced to file for bankruptcy, a process which allows a company to reorganize itself in bankruptcy court, set funds aside in trusts to pay asbestos claims and still be in operation. Johns-Manville was a particularly noteworthy case because it was slammed with a variety of lawsuits from former factory workers suffering from asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Kazan Law set several cases against the manufacturer and was able to win punitive damage verdicts against the company.

Since then asbestos litigation has continued grow due to the growing number of people suffering from asbestos-related ailments. Asbestos cases are often complex because the diseases that they cause can take a long time to manifest themselves and are not always obvious to those diagnosed.

A few victims have been waiting for years to receive compensation from insurance companies even after their employers were found to be responsible. The US Supreme Court has dealt with numerous cases involving settlements for class actions that asbestos companies offered in an attempt to limit their liability and it has also pondered the question of whether or not it is possible to hold individual defendants liable for injuries caused by asbestos.

The Fourth Case

Asbestos is a very dangerous mineral, which has sickened or killed hundreds of thousands of people over the many years. It's also a substance that was widely used by companies that knew that it was dangerous and they continued to use it in their manufacturing processes.

As the legal system handles asbestos lawsuits with a constant stream of new developments. One of the most significant legal developments is a decision known as Lubbe v. Cape Plc, which set a precedent that allows victims to sue multinational corporations in their home jurisdictions to recover compensation.

Most of the time, these cases are accompanied by secondary exposure to asbestos attorney. Workers who handle asbestos at work can transfer it to their family members or spouses. The family members suffer from mesothelioma, or other asbestos-related diseases.

This kind of case is the basis for a variety of lawsuits filed by families of victims of asbestos today. Asbestos lawyers can assist families bring a case against companies responsible for the asbestos attorneys-related injuries suffered by their loved relatives.

The emergence of class-action lawsuits is a major change in asbestos litigation. These asbestos lawsuits offer victims the opportunity to seek justice with the help of an attorney familiarized with the complex legal issues these cases present.

While many asbestos attorneys have pushed for this kind of litigation, there are also some who oppose it. In actual fact there have been a number of attempts to pass legislation to limit the use of asbestos class actions.

The most recent significant development in asbestos litigation was the filing of a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts residents against four companies over the way they dealt with asbestos abatement and disposal. The lawsuit claimed that the companies violated state law by not disposing of asbestos properly and failing to protect residents from toxic dust.

Asbestos litigation is a long-running problem that will likely persist for many decades to come. The asbestos industry has attempted to avoid responsibility through technical legal arguments and by trying to pass legislative remedies that would prevent victims from seeking justice. However, it appears that many victims and lawyers are determined to get justice.