Mesothelioma Articles

Putting together a mesothelioma cases take a special kind of experience on the part of your law firm. We can’t take things at face value; we have to dig, dig, dig, until we find out exactly where, when and how you were exposed to the asbestos that caused you to fall victim to mesothelioma– no matter how unlikely it seems.   If you go to our webpage, you’ll find some of our past clients who were kind enough to share the experience they had with the Segal Law Firm. One of those clients is a woman whose husband, a college professor, was diagnosed with mesothelioma. She called us immediately following diagnosis.   I had to scratch my head. How in the world could a college professor develop a disease that, in most cases, is developed in chemical plants or other industrial fields? Luckily, she called us early on in his development of the disease, so I was able to sit down with them and start asking some questions. Was there asbestos used in the college labs? Was it in the burners or hot vessels he worked around? No and No.   But I kept digging. I finally thought to ask […]

Anytime you think you have a case, we suggest you call us at The Segal Law Firm as soon as possible, but when it comes to mesothelioma cases, you have a specific time limit, based on where you are in the stages of the disease.   That time limit is called your statute of limitations. In West Virginia, you have two years from your diagnosis of mesothelioma to file a lawsuit. The day your doctor tells you that you have the disease, the statute clock starts ticking. That means you need to call right away.   Families sometimes come to us after the statute has run. We can’t do anything at that point until mesothelioma actually causes the death of the victim. At that point, we have two years from the date of the death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. I’ve been able to save a few cases over the years this way.   It is much better, however, if we are able to get your case filed within the first two years after diagnosis, because it gives us the opportunity to take a video deposition of the victim, which can be used in a court of law if

West Virginia handles mesothelioma cases faster than almost any other state in the country. An experienced law firm like The Segal Law Firm can get your case to trial in one to two years, which is extremely fast four a case of its kind. It all starts with a phone call to our firm.   What You Need to Know Basically, you just need to be sure that your doctor has diagnosed you with mesothelioma. It helps if you have the pathology report, which is a piece of paper that proves that you indeed have this debilitating disease. However, if you don’t have it, we know exactly what we need to do to get it.   At The Segal Law Firm we collect work records, medical records, pathology reports and even a sample of the actual lung tissue, which is preserved in a wax block by the physicians. We are very experienced in handling all of that for a victim of mesothelioma.   Getting to Know Each Other We’ll spend our first meeting just getting to know each other. You’ll want to be sure to ask all of your questions to find out what kind of experience we have with

The diagnosis of mesothelioma is a very difficult one to process. We at The Segal Law Firm have been dealing with these types of cases for over two decades and understand how trying this time can be for the victim and his or her family. We’re here to give you some peace of mind after you’ve learned that you’re suffering from this debilitating disease. How Is Mesothelioma Diagnosed? Usually a doctor notices a problem with your lungs, either dealing with pain or breathing, and will send you to a surgeon for a biopsy. The surgeon will take a piece of the lining of the lung or gut and send it to a laboratory where doctors use stains and observe it under a microscope. They then fill out a pathology report with the diagnosis of mesothelioma. What Happens After the Diagnosis? We will send those pathology samples to one of the leading scientists in the world on the disease mesothelioma. The scientist that we use will bill us for his or her reports. The Segal Law Firm, not the victim, pays those bills in advance. At the end of the case, once we’re successful, we will recover those costs. There are

Mesothelioma is a very debilitating disease and the person suffering might not always be able to call an attorney himself or herself. I answer questions about mesothelioma for people who have all different types of relation to victims of mesothelioma. I’ve talked to wives, husbands, children and even close friends. It really doesn’t matter as long as the information gets back to the person suffering from mesothelioma.   Now ultimately, the person with the mesothelioma or the person who’s the head of the estate are the only ones that can actually hire a law firm and bring a case. But anyone can give me a call and ask me about my experience with mesothelioma cases. I’m happy to answer those questions for family members and friends so that they can get that information to the victim of mesothelioma.   Many times a victim of mesothelioma has just undergone a lung biopsy. They’re in the hospital and the family gets this horrific diagnosis. The husband or father is lying there under sedation, very weak and sick, and is unable to call me himself. I have to be willing to meet with the wives and the widows and the children, because they’re

Mesothelioma is a horrific disease that is caused almost exclusively in North America by exposure to asbestos. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with this disease, you’ll want to talk with a law firm, like us here at The Segal Law Firm, who has experience trying these cases and getting them through the legal system efficiently and effectively.   Confirm the Diagnosis and Figuring Out Exposure The step we take at The Segal Law Firm is to confirm the diagnosis of mesothelioma through a pathology report. After the surgeon has taken a piece of your lung, they send it to be looked at under a microscope and we’ll get a copy of that report. We’ll also get a copy of your work history.   Using those two tools, we will conduct an interview and talk to you about how, where and when you were exposed. What industrial facilities did you work in? What products did you work around? Asbestos doesn’t respect job titles; it’ll attack any lungs that happen to be in the area.   The Rocket Docket After we’re clear on your exposure, it’s time to get your case in motion. In West Virginia, we have

The kind of experience a lawyer has, both in and out of the courtroom, is critical in mesothelioma cases. Your lawyer needs to understand the medicine and the history of the disease and have the experience to prove that knowledge to a judge and jury.   Does he or she know the medical history of mesothelioma? In North America, mesothelioma is almost exclusively causes by exposure to asbestos. But how did the exposure occur? How long had the companies using asbestos known of the dangers? In fact, many of the companies that used asbestos as a part of their products and processes knew for decades how dangerous asbestos was. Your attorney has to know that historical medicine so that they can prove that your mesothelioma is due to your exposure to asbestos.   It’s also important than your attorney be familiar with the modern day medicine associated with mesothelioma. You can’t taste it or smell it. The part of the asbestos that will hurt you is invisible to the human eye. It’s a very aerodynamic fiber. Your attorney has got to know the history of how the workers and their families were exposed to asbestos, sometimes thirty or forty years

Before you hire a lawyer for your mesothelioma case, you’ve got to know that he or she has intimate experience with the history of the disease. It’s critical to understand not only the history of the medicine and its causes, but also how, when, and where asbestos was used throughout history in a variety of different fields and products.   How, When and Where? How was asbestos used? What was it used for? Who was it used by? And when did the companies using it know about the dangers associated with asbestos? Hundreds of different companies used asbestos for insulating pipe, boilers, and ships. They used it for building power houses, chemical factories, and doing electrical work. I could go on and on. Your lawyer has to know exactly where the asbestos was used.                                                                                                                   Your attorney also needs to understand the history of what the asbestos companies knew about their products when they were manufacturing them. Someone with the experience like I have in these cases will be able to explain to the jury how and why these tragedies have occurred from a historical basis. They can also explain why these companies did nothing to protect the workers form