When you’ve been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, the last thing you want to think about are legalities. But because of the terrible toll the disease takes on you and your family, it’s crucial to find an attorney that can protect you and make sure you get the help you deserve. When it comes to picking your lawyer, you need to find someone who has so much experience with mesothelioma cases that they can easily take over and you can focus on the more important aspects of life. Your lawyer needs to have experience with the disease, its medicine, the history of the industry, extensive knowledge of the worksites that exposed workers to asbestos and experience in the courtroom trying mesothelioma cases.
Experience with the History
So, let’s talk about the first one; experience with the history of the asbestos industry. Why is that important? If you don’t have experience with the history, then you won’t know which products were used during which periods of time. This is critical in finding out the specific asbestos that was the cause of your client’s mesothelioma. Many people think that all asbestos is the same- this is untrue. There’s chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite and something known as amphibole. An attorney must know when and how these were used throughout history. For instance, amosite was very popular in chemical plants and was used in insulations where there was a corrosive environment. Crocidolite, the most harmful and toxic of all asbestos fibers, came from South Africa and was used in cement pipes. As you can tell, there is a lot to know about asbestos, much more than I could begin to explain here. You need a lawyer who knows the history of the companies, as well as how much those companies knew about the dangers and when they knew it. This becomes important when seeking punitive damages, which we are entitled to seek in an effort to punish those companies that put profit over their workers’ safety.
Experience with the Medicine
An experienced lawyer knows how meso develops and what medicines are used to treat it. Many people think that it develops in the lungs. Actually, it begins in the lining of the lungs or gut. There are several different ways the disease can show itself and your lawyer needs to understand them thoroughly. I have read literally millions of pages of scientific and medical articles dealing with mesothelioma. You can read articles dated a half a century or older debating the causes. Asking your potential lawyer about their knowledge of the disease is one of the very first things you should do. Here at The Segal Law Firm, we welcome those questions and I pride myself in being able to answer them.
Experience with the Worksites
We have a saying here at the firm that asbestos doesn’t care about your job title. This disease has affected carpenters, boilermakers, welders, millwrights and even secretaries. I have seen so many different cases and it’s essential that your lawyer be familiar with the hundreds of different ways the disease can be contracted. What’s important to me is finding out where you worked. Once I know that, regardless of what your job title was, I can find out what types of asbestos you were exposed to. If you worked in power house, you were exposed to pipe insulation, welding blankets and gaskets. If you worked in a steel mill, you were exposed to different hot tops, protective clothing and insulations in furnaces. Your lawyer must have the knowledge of the worksites that used asbestos to quickly and correctly identify the asbestos that led to your mesothelioma.
Experience with the Courtroom
An attorney could have all the courtroom experience in the world, but if they haven’t tried several different mesothelioma cases, they aren’t the lawyer for yours. Your attorney must be able to explain your case in simple terms to a jury. He or she has to explain how you got the disease and prove, in a bite-sized package, what the punitive damages should be. The jury is not going to know what in the world is being said if big scientific terms are thrown around. I have been trying these cases and explaining the horrible, horrible toll it takes on a family for almost thirty years. At this point, I can walk in a courtroom and feel completely confident that I can protect you and make your case clear to a jury and a judge.
Like I said from the start, all of these details are the last thing you want to be thinking about during the process of dealing with this disease. You want to spend your time with family and I understand that. That’s why we at The Segal Law Firm do our best to take complete care of the legality and involve you as little as possible. We want you to feel confident in our experience and knowledge. Ask your attorney the hard questions and make sure he or she is prepared to protect you. We are more than willing to take any and every question you may have about mesothelioma and what to expect. Please call us here at The Segal Law Firm at 855-344-9100 and let’s get those questions answered.