New York Asbestos Litigation
In New York, mesothelioma and lung cancer sufferers can receive compensation through an expert mesothelioma lawyer. These diseases are usually caused by exposure to asbestos attorney. The symptoms may not show up for many years.
Judges who oversee NYCAL's caseload have developed patterns of favoring plaintiffs. Recent rulings could further undermine the rights of defendants.
Upstate New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
Asbestos litigation is different than the typical personal injury lawsuit. These cases involve multiple defendants (companies being sued), multiple law offices representing plaintiffs, and multiple expert witness. In addition there are often specific work sites that are the focus of these cases since asbestos was used in a variety of products and a lot of workers were exposed to it while working. Asbestos sufferers often develop serious diseases like mesothelioma or lung cancer.
New York has a unique approach to asbestos litigation. It is among the largest dockets across the nation. It is administered by a specific Case Management Order. This CMO was designed to handle huge numbers of asbestos cases that involve a multitude of defendants. The judges on the NYCAL docket have experience in asbestos cases. The docket is also the scene of some of the highest plaintiff verdicts in recent history.
The New York Court of Appeals has recently made some significant changes to the NYCAL docket. In 2015 the political establishment in Albany was shaken to the core when former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on federal corruption charges. Silver was accused of sabotaging tort reform bills in the legislature for more than 20 years, while moonlighting at the plaintiffs ' firm Weitz & Luxenberg.
Justice Sherry Klein Heitler retired in April 2014 amid reports that she gave the Weitz & Luxenberg firm "red carpet treatment". She was replaced by Justice Peter Moulton who implemented a number changes to the docket.
Moulton instituted an entirely new rule for the NYCAL docket that requires defendants to submit evidence that their products were not responsible for mesothelioma of plaintiffs. In addition, he implemented an entirely new procedure in which he did not dismiss cases until all expert witness testimony was complete. This new policy may have significant effects on the pace of discovery for cases in the NYCAL docket and could result in an outcome that is more favorable for defendants.
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed MDL 875 last week and ordered that all future asbestos cases be transferred to a different District. This change will hopefully result in more consistent and efficient handling of these cases, as the current MDL has earned a reputation for discovery abuse as well as unjustified sanctions and low evidentiary requirements.
Central New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
After years of corruption by the former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his mismanagement, the scandals surrounding Sheldon Silver's ties to asbestos lawyers have finally drawn attention to New York City’s rigged asbestos court. Justice Peter Moulton is now the head of NYCAL and has already held a town hall meeting with defense attorneys to hear complaints about the "rigged" system that favors one powerful asbestos law firm.
asbestos attorney lawsuits differ from the typical personal injury lawsuit, with many of the same defendants (companies who are being sued) and plaintiffs (people who file the lawsuits). Asbestos litigation also involves similar workplaces where a lot of people were exposed asbestos, leading to mesothelioma or lung cancer. This can lead to large case verdicts, which can block the court dockets.
To limit this problem To address this issue, several states have passed laws to restrict the types of claims that can be made. They typically address issues including medical criteria, two-disease rules, expedited case scheduling, joinders, forum shopping, the right to punitive damages and successor liability.
Despite these laws, some states are still seeing an influx of asbestos lawsuits. Certain courts have created special "asbestos Dockets" to reduce the number of asbestos lawsuits and speed up the resolution of these cases. These dockets follow a variety of rules specifically designed for asbestos cases. The New York City asbestos docket, for example demands that claimants meet certain medical requirements and also has a rule of two diseases and uses an accelerated trial schedule.
Some states have passed laws that restrict the amount of punitive damage given in asbestos cases. These laws are designed to deter bad behavior and offer more compensation to victims. No matter if your case is filed in a state or federal court, you should consult with an New York mesothelioma lawyer to know how these laws impact your specific case.
Alfred Sargente concentrates his practice in environmental and toxic tort litigation, product liability and commercial litigation. He also handles general liability issues. He has extensive experience in defending clients against claims of exposure to lead, asbestos and World Trade Center dust in both New York and New Jersey. He has also defended cases alleging exposure to other hazards and contaminants like vibration, noise, mold and environmental toxins.
Southern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
New York has seen thousands of deaths resulting from asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma patients and their families have filed lawsuits in five counties against companies that manufacture of asbestos-containing products to seek compensation. Mesothelioma lawsuits that succeed make asbestos companies accountable for their rash decisions to put profits ahead of public safety.
New York mesothelioma attorneys have experience representing clients of all backgrounds against the biggest asbestos producers in the United States. Their legal strategies can result in a generous settlement or trial verdict.
Asbestos litigation in New York has a rich background, and it continues to make headlines. According to the 2022 national report on mesothelioma claims filed by KCIC, New York is the third most sought-after jurisdiction in which to file mesothelioma claims, after California and Pennsylvania.
The state's judiciary has been hit by the flood of asbestos lawsuits. In 2015 the former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on federal corruption charges partly related to millions of dollars in referral fees he earned from the politically powerful plaintiffs law firm Weitz & Luxenberg from handling asbestos cases. Following the scandal, Justice Sherry Klein Heitler, who had managed NYCAL since 2008, was replaced amidst reports that she had given "red-carpet treatment" to Weitz & Luxenberg asbestos lawsuits.
Justice Peter Moulton succeeded Justice Heitler as NYCAL judge. He has declared that defendants won't be able to obtain summary judgment without the existence of a "scientifically credible and admissible study" that proves the amount of exposure a plaintiff received was too low to cause mesothelioma. This effectively ends the possibility that NYCAL defendants can get summary judgment.
Justice Moulton also ruled that the plaintiff must show damage to their health due to asbestos exposure before the court to award compensatory damage. This ruling, combined with a ruling from the beginning of 2016 that held that medical monitoring was not a tort, makes it nearly impossible for an asbestos defence lawyer to prevail on a NYCAL Summary Judgment motion.
In the latest case, Judge Toal presided over, a mesothelioma suit filed against DOVER GREEN, the company is accused of not following asbestos work practices regulations when it renovated Manhattan campus buildings in October 2013 to raise funds for a charity. The lawsuit claims that DOVER GREENS did not follow CAA and Asbestos NESHAP requirements by failing to conduct an inspection of the Campus; notifying EPA prior to commencing renovations and properly remove, store, and dispose of asbestos; and have a trained representative on site during renovations.
Eastern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
At one point, asbestos personal injury/death cases clogged federal and state court dockets and depleted judges' judicial resources which prevented them from dealing with criminal cases or other important civil disputes. This bloated litigation impeded the timely compensation of deserving victims and innocent families, and forced companies to devote inordinate amounts of money and resources in defense of these cases.
Asbestos claims are filed by people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or any other asbestos-related illnesses after exposure to asbestos in their work environment. The majority of asbestos claims are filed by construction workers or shipyard workers, as well as other tradesmen that worked on buildings made or that contain asbestos-containing materials. They were exposed to dangerous asbestos fibers either during the process of manufacturing or while working on the actual structure.
Asbestos litigation was the first mass tort. From the late 1970s until the early 1980s, asbestos exposure triggered an explosion of personal injury and wrongful deaths lawsuits. This occurred in state and federal courts across the country.
Plaintiffs in these lawsuits argue that their ailments resulted from the negligence of asbestos-related products' manufacture and that companies did not warn them about the dangers of asbestos exposure. More than half of asbestos lawsuits are brought in federal court.
In the early 1990s recognizing that the litigation was a "terrible congestion of the calendar," District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, and New York Supreme Court justice Helen Freedman consolidated hundreds of federal and State cases involving asbestos exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for settlement or pretrial purposes. Judge Weinstein and Justice Freedman handled these cases and were known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard consolidation, under the supervision of the Special Master.
Many defendants had been involved in asbestos claims in the past. The defendants listed included Garlock, Inc; H & A Construction Company, as successors to Spraycraft Corporation; CRH, Inc. as the successor to E.I. Dupont; W.R. Grace and Company; Empire-Ace Insulation Manufacturing Company Bell/Atlas Asbestos Corp.; and DNS Metal Industries, Inc.