The 10 Most Terrifying Things About Ny Asbestos Litigation
New York Asbestos Litigation
In New York, mesothelioma and lung cancer patients can seek compensation with the help of an experienced mesothelioma lawyer. The exposure to asbestos is often the cause of these kinds of illnesses. symptoms can take years before they show up.
Judges who oversee the cases of NYCAL have developed a pattern that favors plaintiffs. Recent rulings could further undermine the rights of defendants.
Upstate New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
Asbestos litigation differs from a typical personal injury lawsuit. These cases involve many defendants (companies which are being in court) as well as multiple law firms representing plaintiffs as well as multiple expert witnesses. These cases are usually based on specific job locations since asbestos was used to make various products and a lot of workers were subjected to it at work. Asbestos victims are often diagnosed with serious illnesses like mesothelioma and lung cancer.
New York has a unique approach to asbestos litigation. It is one of the largest dockets across the country. It is managed by a specific Case Management Order. This CMO was designed to handle the large number of asbestos cases, involving many defendants. The Judges involved in the NYCAL docket are experienced in asbestos cases. The docket has also seen some of the highest plaintiff awards in recent history.
New York Court of Appeals made some major changes to the NYCAL docket in the last few days. In 2015, the political establishment in Albany was shaken to its foundation when former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on federal corruption charges. Silver was accused of destroying every reasonable crafted tort reform bill in the legislature for more than a decade while working for the plaintiffs firm Weitz & Luxenberg.
Justice Sherry Klein Heitler retired in April 2014, citing reports that she gave the Weitz & Luxenberg firm "red carpet treatment". She was replaced by Justice Peter Moulton who implemented several changes to the docket.
Moulton introduced an amendment to the NYCAL docket that requires defendants to provide evidence that their products are not responsible for the plaintiffs' mesothelioma. He also implemented new rules that stipulated that he wouldn't dismiss cases until the expert witness testimony had been completed. This new policy could have significant effects on the pace of discovery in cases on the NYCAL docket, and could lead to a more favorable outcome for defendants.
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed MDL 875 last week and ordered that all asbestos lawsuit cases in the future be transferred to another District. This will result in more uniform and efficient treatment of asbestos cases. The MDL currently MDL is known for its discovery abuse, unwarranted sanction and low evidentiary standards.
Central New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
After years of corruption and mismanagement by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the scandals regarding his connections to asbestos lawyers have finally attracted the attention of the asbestos docket, which is rigged. Justice Peter Moulton is now presiding over NYCAL and has already held a town hall with defense attorneys to hear complaints about the "rigged" system that favors a powerful asbestos law firm.
Asbestos litigation is different from the typical personal injury lawsuit. It has many of the same defendants (companies who are sued) as well as plaintiffs (people who file lawsuits). Asbestos litigation also generally involves similar job sites where many people were exposed to asbestos, frequently leading to mesothelioma or lung cancer, as well as other illnesses. These cases can result in huge verdicts that can block dockets of the courts.
To limit this problem, several states have passed laws that restrict the types of claims that can be filed. They typically cover issues like medical requirements, two-disease regulations expedited case scheduling, forum shopping, joinders consequential damages, and successor liability.
Despite these laws states are still seeing high numbers of asbestos lawsuits. Certain courts have created special "asbestos attorneys Dockets" to reduce the number of asbestos lawsuits and speed up the resolution of these cases. These dockets follow various rules that are tailored specifically for asbestos cases. The New York City asbestos lawsuit court for instance, requires applicants to meet certain medical criteria and has rules for two diseases. It also utilizes an accelerated schedule.
Some states have passed laws that restrict the amount of punitive damage awarded in asbestos cases. These laws are meant to deter particularly bad behavior and allow for greater compensation to be awarded to victims. Regardless of whether your case is filed in federal or state court, you should work with a New York mesothelioma lawyer to understand how these laws affect your specific situation.
Alfred Sargente focuses his practice on toxic tort and environmental litigation including commercial litigation, product liability and general liability issues. He has extensive experience in defending clients from claims that claim exposure to lead, asbestos and World Trade Center dust in both New York and New Jersey. He has also defended claims that claim exposure to a variety of other contaminants and hazards such as chemical and solvents, noise, mold, vibration and environmental toxins.
Southern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
New York has seen thousands of deaths due to asbestos exposure. In five counties, mesothelioma victims and their families have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of asbestos-based products to recover compensation. Mesothelioma lawsuits that are successful hold negligent asbestos companies responsible for their reckless decisions.
New York mesothelioma lawyers are experienced in representing clients from diverse backgrounds against the nation's most significant asbestos manufacturers. Their legal strategies could result in an enormous settlement or verdict.
Asbestos litigation has a long-standing history in New York, and continues to draw attention. According to the 2022 report on mesothelioma claim filings by KCIC, New York is the third most popular state where you can file mesothelioma lawsuits, following California and Pennsylvania.
The state's judiciary has been hit by the flood of asbestos lawsuits. Sheldon Silver, the former Assembly Speaker, was convicted in 2015 of federal corruption charges relating to millions of dollars in referral fees he received from politically powerful plaintiffs' law firms Weitz & Luxenberg for handling asbestos cases. Following the scandal, Justice Sherry Klein Heitler who was in charge of NYCAL since 2008, was replaced amidst reports that she provided "red-carpet treatment" to Weitz & Luxenberg asbestos lawsuits.
Justice Heitler was succeeded as NYCAL judge by Justice Peter Moulton, who has clarified that defendants are not entitled to summary judgment unless they present a "scientifically sound, reliable and admissible scientific study" showing the measured exposure of a plaintiff was not sufficient to cause mesothelioma. This virtually eliminates the possibility that NYCAL defendants will be able to secure summary judgment.
Justice Moulton also ruled that plaintiffs must prove injury to their health from asbestos exposure in order for the judge to award compensatory damages. This decision, coupled with a decision from early 2016 that held that medical monitoring is not a tort, makes it nearly impossible for an asbestos defence lawyer to prevail on a NYCAL Summary Judgment motion.
The latest case in which Judge Toal is in charge of, a mesothelioma case filed against DOVER GREENS claims that the company was in violation of asbestos work practices regulations when it renovated buildings on the Manhattan campus in October 2013 for an event for fundraising. The lawsuit claims that DOVER GREENS failed to follow CAA and asbestos NESHAP regulations because it failed to inspect and notify the EPA prior to beginning renovations, and properly remove, store and dispose of asbestos and appointing a trained representative on site during renovations.
Eastern New York Asbestos Litigation Dockets
At one time asbestos attorneys-related personal injury/death cases were a major blockage of state and federal court dockets and drained judges' resources for judicial work, preventing them from addressing criminal matters or other important civil disputes. The bloated litigation impeded the timely compensation of victims and irritated innocent families. Additionally, it caused businesses to invest excessive money on defense.
Asbestos claims are filed by those diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases after exposure to asbestos in a workplace environment. The majority of asbestos claims are filed by construction employees shipyard workers, construction workers, and other tradesmen working on structures made of or that contain asbestos-containing materials. They were exposed to asbestos fibers that could be harmful during the manufacturing process or when working on the actual structure.
The first significant mass tort was asbestos litigation. In the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s, an avalanche of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits arising from exposure to asbestos filled the courts. This happened in both state and federal court across the nation.
These lawsuits are brought by plaintiffs who claim that their ailments were the result of the negligent manufacture of asbestos products. They also claim that companies failed to to warn them about the dangers associated with asbestos exposure. More than half of asbestos lawsuits are brought in federal courts.
In the early 1990s, recognizing that this litigation constituted "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 state and federal cases that alleged exposure to asbestos at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Under the supervision of a Special Master, Judge Weinstein and Justice Freedman consolidated these cases and referred to them as Brooklyn Navy Yard consolidation.
A number of defendants were involved in other asbestos claims. The list of defendants included Garlock, Inc; H & A Construction Company, as a successor and individually 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. were all defendants.