How To Outsmart Your Boss Ny Asbestos Litigation
New York Asbestos Litigation
In New York, mesothelioma and lung cancer sufferers can receive compensation through an experienced mesothelioma lawyer. Asbestos exposure is a common cause of these kinds of diseases; symptoms can take years before they manifest.
Judges who oversee the cases of NYCAL have crafted a pattern that favors plaintiffs. Recent rulings could further undermine the rights of defendants.
Upstate New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
Asbestos litigation is distinct from a typical personal injury lawsuit. These cases involve multiple defendants (companies being sued) as well as multiple law offices representing plaintiffs, and a variety of expert witness. Additionally there are typically specific work sites that are the subject of these cases since asbestos was employed in a variety of products and workers were exposed to asbestos during their work. Asbestos victims are often diagnosed with serious diseases such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.
New York has its own unique approach to dealing with asbestos litigation. It is among the biggest dockets across the country. It is controlled by a specific Case Management Order. This CMO was designed to handle the large number of asbestos cases that involve a multitude of defendants. The Judges involved in the NYCAL docket have extensive experience in asbestos cases. The docket has also witnessed some of the most prestigious settlements for plaintiffs in recent years.
The New York Court of Appeals has recently made significant changes to the NYCAL docket. In 2015 the political system in Albany was shaken to the core when the court convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on federal corruption charges. Silver was accused of sabotaging tort reform bills in the legislature for more than 20 years, while also working at the plaintiffs ' firm Weitz & Luxenberg.
Justice Sherry Klein Heitler, the long-time head of the NYCAL docket, retired in April 2014 amidst reports that she'd given the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm "red-carpet treatment." She was replaced by Justice Peter Moulton, who made a variety of changes to the docket.
Moulton established a new rule for the NYCAL docket that requires that defendants file proof that their products were not responsible for plaintiffs' mesothelioma. Additionally, he introduced an entirely new procedure in which he did not dismiss cases until all expert witness testimony was completed. This new policy will significantly affect the speed of discovery in cases on the NYCAL docket and may result in better outcomes for defendants.
In other New York asbestos lawyer news, an federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia recently dismissed MDL 875 and ordered all future asbestos cases to be transferred to another district. This should lead to more efficient and uniform handling of these cases because the current MDL has earned itself reputation for abuse of discovery, unwarranted sanctions and minimal evidentiary requirements.
Central New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
After years of corruption and mismanagement by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the scandals concerning his ties to asbestos lawyers have finally attracted the attention of New York City's rigged asbestos docket. Justice Peter Moulton is now the head of NYCAL and has already held a town hall with defense lawyers to hear complaints about the "rigged" system that favors one powerful asbestos law firm.
Asbestos Lawyer litigation is different from a typical personal injury case because it involves a lot of the same plaintiffs and defendants. Asbestos litigation also includes similar workplaces where a lot of people were exposed to asbestos, which led to mesothelioma or lung cancer. This can result in large verdicts that can clog the dockets of the courts.
To address this issue To address this issue, several states have passed laws to restrict the types of claims that can be filed. These laws usually address medical requirements, two disease rules, expedited scheduling, joinders and forum shopping, punitive damages and successor liability.
Despite these laws, some states continue see a high number of asbestos lawsuits. Certain courts have created special "asbestos Dockets" to reduce the number and accelerate the resolution of these cases. These dockets apply a variety of rules specifically designed for asbestos cases. The New York City asbestos court for instance, requires applicants to meet certain medical requirements as well as has two-disease rules. It also employs an accelerated scheduling.
Some states have passed laws that restrict the amount of punitive damage that can be awarded in asbestos cases. These laws are designed to discourage particularly harmful behavior and allow for greater compensation to be awarded to victims. No matter if your case is filed in federal or state court, you should work with an New York mesothelioma lawyer to understand how these laws affect your particular situation.
Alfred Sargente concentrates his practice in environmental and toxic tort litigation as well as product liability and commercial litigation. He also handles general liability issues. He has vast experience defending clients against claims of exposure to asbestos, Lead and World Trade Center Dust in both New York City and New Jersey. He has also defended cases that claim exposure to other hazardous substances and contaminants, such as noise, mold, vibration and environmental toxics.
Southern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
New York has seen thousands of deaths due to asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma patients and their families have filed lawsuits in five counties against companies that manufacture of asbestos products to seek compensation. The successful mesothelioma lawsuits make asbestos companies accountable for their rash choices to put profits ahead of public safety.
New York mesothelioma lawyers are experienced in representing clients from diverse backgrounds against the nation's largest asbestos attorneys manufacturers. Their legal strategies could lead to an enormous settlement or verdict.
Asbestos litigation has a long history in New York, and continues to draw attention. The 2022 mesothelioma claim national report by KCIC declares New York as the third most popular place for mesothelioma lawsuit filings, just behind California and Pennsylvania.
The state's judicial system is shaken by the flurry of asbestos lawsuits. In 2015, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on federal corruption charges that were linked to the millions of dollars of referral fees he received from the politically-powerful plaintiffs law firm Weitz & Luxenberg from handling asbestos cases. Justice Sherry Klein Heitler was named NYCAL's manager in the wake of the scandal. She had been in charge of NYCAL since 2008.
Justice Peter Moulton succeeded Justice Heitler as NYCAL judge. He has stated that defendants will not be able to get summary judgment without the existence of a "scientifically credible and admissible study" showing that the measured dose of exposure that a plaintiff received was too low to cause mesothelioma. This effectively eliminates the possibility that NYCAL defendants will be able to obtain summary judgment.
Additionally, Justice Moulton has ruled that a plaintiff must show some injury to his or her health as a result of exposure to asbestos for the court to give compensatory damages. This decision, coupled with a decision made in early 2016 that ruled that medical monitoring was not a tort claim, makes it almost impossible for an asbestos defense lawyer to prevail on a NYCAL Summary Motion for Judgment.
The most recent case, in which Judge Toal is in charge of, a mesothelioma case filed against DOVER GREENS, alleges that the company violated asbestos work practices regulations when it renovated buildings on the Manhattan campus in October 2013 to host an event to raise money for. The lawsuit claims that DOVER GREENS failed to follow CAA and NESHAP requirements for asbestos by failing to inspect the campus and notify EPA prior to commencing renovations and to properly remove, store, and dispose of asbestos and have a trained representative in place during renovations.
Eastern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
Asbestos-related personal death and injury cases filled up federal court dockets and judges' judicial resources were drained, preventing them from addressing criminal matters or important civil disputes. This bloated litigation hindered the timely compensation of victims and frustrated innocent families. It also led to companies to spend a lot of money on defense.
Asbestos claims are filed by individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related illnesses after being exposed to asbestos in a work environment. Most asbestos claims are filed by construction employees, shipyard workers, and other tradesmen working on buildings constructed or that contain asbestos-containing materials. These individuals were exposed to dangerous asbestos fibers in the manufacturing process or when working on the actual structure.
Asbestos litigation was the first mass tort. In the late 1970s and 1980s an avalanche of personal injury and wrongful death cases arising from exposure to asbestos was a major issue for courts. This occurred in state and federal courts across the country.
Plaintiffs in these lawsuits argue that their ailments resulted from the negligence of asbestos attorneys-related products' manufacture and that companies did not warn them about the dangers associated with such exposure. While the majority of asbestos cases were filed in state courts, a majority were filed in federal courts.
In the early 1990s, after recognizing that this litigation was "terrible calendar congestion," District Judge Jack B. Weinstein and New York Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman jointly consolidated for settlement as well as pretrial and discovery purposes hundreds of federal and state cases which claimed asbestos exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Judge Weinstein and Justice Freedman handled these cases, which were known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard consolidation, under the supervision of a Special Master.
Although the majority of these cases were relating to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, many of the defendants were common defendants in other asbestos claims. The defendants were Garlock, Inc, H & A Construction Company, both individually and as successors to Spraycraft Corporation, CRH, Inc., successors to E.I. Dupont, W.R. Grace and Company Empire-Ace Insulation Manufacturing Company Bell/Atlas Asbestos Corp., and DNS Metal Industries, Inc. were all defendants.