Imagine a disease that lays eggs inside your lungs. These eggs do not produce discomfort or coughing, they don’t cause outbreaks or rashes or anything of the sort. In fact these eggs don’t do anything except sit in your lungs and germinate for 20 to 50 years. After this time you begin to have a slight cough, a fever, maybe some cold sweats. You write it off as the flu and continue as usual until it goes away. Three weeks later the flu is back, and this time you’re coughing up blood. You visit your doctor and hope he can prescribe something to take away this crazy flu. Your doctor runs in few tests and sends you home. A week later you’re brought into his office and he lays the devastating news on you… you have Mesothelioma Cancer of the lungs.
This is the reality for roughly 2,000 men and women residing in United States every year. These are people who often times never smoked and have led healthy lives. The primary cause of mesothelioma cancer is linked to exposure to asbestos fibers that are breathed into the lungs or swallowed. Mesothelioma is a horrible cancer. It is very painful. There is no cure. Doctors measure life expectancy in months after diagnosis.
For those stricken with Mesothelioma, the harsh reality is that victims and/or their families must sue for compensation – no check is sent “automatically” from those liable for having caused this catastrophic illness. Starting a lawsuit to help Mesothelioma victims and their families requires the expertise of competent trial attorneys – who can often negotiate a settlement by deftly demonstrating liability of those responsible before trial is commenced.
The asbestos industry does not stay in business by simply giving away money for the asking – especially the large sums necessary to help those stricken with this terrible disease. The makers of asbestos-containing products can afford to hire the best lawyers in an attempt to minimize and delay compensation due victims and their families. Therefore, it is crucial to retain an attorney specifically experienced handling Mesothelioma cases – one who knows the manufacturers and their well-practiced tactics. Only an expert Mesothelioma attorney has the best chances of getting the fullest compensation available under the law for victims of this miserable illness and their needy families. It is a double tragedy to both contract Mesothelioma – and then to be robbed of just compensation for the disease – by the industrial greed of asbestos industry.
Mesothelioma literally robs a person of health and life. While money alone can never replace these, it can be a Godsend to those left financially strapped by this dreadful disease. We at the Goldberg Law Offices have specialized in pursuing justice for victims of industrial hazards, such as the asbestos that causes Mesothelioma, for over 18 years. We have the knowledge, experience and wherewithal to succeed in recovering money from the asbestos industry – while less experienced firms could easily be discouraged by the asbestos industry’s deplorable tactics of denying liability – and then delaying payment – to Mesothelioma victims and their families. At the Goldberg Law Offices, we don’t put up with these shenanigans. We relentlessly pursue those responsible and hold the asbestos industry accountable for the damages they have caused.
There had been suspicions that asbestos might have dangers for centuries. However, the scientific proof that asbestos could cause cancers Mesothelioma became well established in the 1930s. That such a safe looking substance, mined from earth, was so dangerous was initially doubted by the asbestos manufactures themselves. In fact, the asbestos industry paid for studies in the 1930s and thereafter to prove that asbestos was safe. However, their scientists arrived at the exact opposite conclusion. Asbestos was dangerous. It caused cancers in laboratory animals – and was soon shown to do so in humans as well. This was, of course, very worrisome for the burgeoning asbestos industry, which was going gang-busters making pipe-fittings, gaskets, insulation, cements, and brake-linings – among many other products.
Instead of being forthright with its workers and public about the newfound dangers of asbestos in the 1930s, the industry hid evidence, purposely altered the conclusions of scientific studies, and generally did everything it could to keep workers (and the public) “in the dark” as to the mounting scientific evidence showing asbestos as anything but safe. The asbestos manufacturers embarked on a “disinformation campaign” to spread the false notion that asbestos was really safe. Further, the asbestos companies actively bought out makers of truly safer insulation materials – to continue asbestos as the only economical option for builders. A real conspiracy was underway to keep America’s workers and citizens unaware of any danger from asbestos – and force them to continue to use it when safer alternatives were available!
Ultimately, in the 1960s through 1980s, scientists from the U.S. Government and University Laboratories published studies proving the dangers of asbestos – risks that had grown over years through widespread use in homes and industry – despite the safer alternatives! Asbestos companies were finally forced, through both lawsuits and increasing Government regulation, to abandon asbestos production and usage almost entirely. However, decades of rampant usage had needlessly endangered several generations of Americans, with diseases like Mesothelioma Lung Cancer taking perhaps 20 to 50 years to manifest from (exposures long ago) to this very patient poison.
Every Mesothelioma case has its own particulars. Victims may be of various ages, differing occupations, male or female, and had either long or short-term exposure to asbestos in the recent or remote past. That is why it takes a highly experienced attorney to use the specifics of the case toward the victim’s advantage– and not be discouraged by the asbestos industry’s defense that they are not responsible since the case is not “typical” for asbestos-related Mesothelioma. There really is no such thing as a “typical case,” – and an inexperienced law firm may fall for this common defense ploy.
Nonetheless, significant settlements and awards have been wrested out of the asbestos manufacturer’s for their culpability to victims of Mesothelioma. Multi-Million dollar awards are quite common, all depending upon the particular circumstances of the case. A key attribute of a highly competent and experienced Mesothelioma lawyer is knowing how to arrange and present the case to the payers so that maximal compensation can be recovered for the victim and their family.
Asbestos is a material that comes from rock. When left in the ground, asbestos is safe. When asbestos is removed from the ground and incorporated into products it becomes extremely dangerous. Asbestos was used heavily for many years and hundreds of products. It was primarily used due to the fact that it is strong, resists fire and corrosion, and has very effective properties for insulation. In modern day, asbestos has many uses such as thermal pipe and boiler insulation, floor coverings, ceiling tiles, spray-applied fireproofing and soundproofing, roofing materials and pipe and metal sheeting. Due to the fact that asbestos was used in heavy construction in the industrial and building trades during the mid-1900s, most carriers of mesothelioma cancer are men who were working around asbestos during that time.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that afflicts our nation’s heroes, people who built our country and who embody ideals of patriotism, hard work, and family. They were exposed to asbestos while serving our nation in Navy ships and shipyards, building our homes and cities, working hard in our factories and industries to provide for their families, or washing their loved one’s clothes at the end of a long work-day.
Asbestos is so deadly that there is no known safe level of exposure. Even a tiny bit of fiber can cause disease. Those at risk include everyone from U.S. Navy Veterans, workers in shipyards or demolition, break mechanics, roofers and cement masons, to workers’ families and homeowners doing renovations. Exposure to asbestos can cause a variety of cancers, with Mesothelioma being the deadliest.
We represent building and construction tradesman, veterans, millworkers, shipyard workers, autoworkers, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning trades people that were exposed to asbestos fibers and have acquired lung cancer, and the most advanced cancer — Mesothelioma.
