You're a construction worker and you've spent
your working life on construction sites -- big and small -- and were exposed to asbestos
in many ways. You've now been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Hi. I'm Joe Williams.
I'm a
mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City and I want to talk to you about some of the
exposures that construction workers face on the job site. Now construction worker is sort
of a broad term to describe many different types of trades and many different types of
work. So over the years, my clients who were construction workers have talked to me about
all the ways they believe they were exposed to asbestos. And there are many ways that
construction workers breathed in asbestos dust.
A construction worker can be doing any
job on a job site. A construction worker may be laying asbestos-containing floor tile - cutting
the tile, sanding it, creating dust that they breathe. A construction worker could be installing
sheet rock and installing the joint compound between the seams of sheet rock, letting it
dry, sanding it down, applying multiple coats, letting it dry, sanding it down -- all creating
dust from the asbestos that was in the joint compound. A construction worker could install
a drop ceiling and cut the individual ceiling tiles, creating asbestos dust because the
ceiling tiles had a component with asbestos in them.
Construction workers can even do
roofing work; on pitched roofs installing shingles on the roofs -- some of which contained
asbestos. On flat roofs, rolling out asbestos felt or asbestos base sheet which contained
asbestos; using asbestos containing mastics and flashing materials on flat roofs. All
these can be exposures to asbestos that construction workers can face. Construction workers also
can be exposed to asbestos dust created by other trades.
A construction worker could
be a classic bystander -- someone standing by for some other trade's work and breathing
in the dust from the other trade's work that is happening in their vicinity. Well these
are all exposures that a construction worker could face on a job site. And I'm sure you
have many questions about how construction workers were exposed to asbestos. Well we
can answer your questions.
I'm Joe Williams. I invite you to call my office at the number
listed below. We represent mesothelioma victims every day. We handle their cases each and
every day and we certainly would like to answer your questions.
You were naval seamen. You served in the United
States Navy and now you've been diagnosed with mesothelioma. And you and your family
are trying to figure out how you were exposed to asbestos. Hi.
I'm Joe Williams. I'm a mesothelioma
trial attorney here in New York City and I. Can answer the questions that you have about
how naval seamen were exposed to asbestos. The first thing that we need to know about
someone who served in the United States Navy is what was their rating? What was their job
aboard ship? Did their job cause them to come into the fire room, where the boilers were?
Or the engine room, where the turbines and other equipment were? That's where the majority
of asbestos containing components where.
Throughout the ship, the piping -- almost all of it -- was
covered with asbestos pipe covering. And in the engine room and the fire room, the equipment
was insulated with asbestos. The equipment had internal asbestos gaskets and asbestos
packing. The broiler had asbestos firebrick and asbestos cement that was all used in conjunction
with that equipment.
And as we learn more about an individual client's case, we can
then draw on our experience with working with other naval seamen to learn more about their
individual exposures and what exposure that particular client would have had to asbestos.
Another important factor in a case for naval seamen is that fact that they worked on a
military ship. And the military kept very strong records regarding their ships and those
records are saved in the United States Naval Archive. And in cases involving naval seamen,
we hire a researcher to go down to Washington, D.C. And to acquire the records for that particular
ship.
And those records at the U.S. Naval Archive tell us all the equipment and all
the work that was done on that ship. And from those records we can help reconstruct all
the different ways the naval seamen could have been exposed to asbestos on a particular
navy ship. Additionally, there is something called "musteralls." And musteralls, as they
relate to a naval seaman's case, tells us a lot of information because they list all
the seamen that were on that ship.
We can then through our investigation find these
individuals (if they're still alive and still available) and interview them. And talk to
them about potential exposures they had in different compartments of the ship and develop
that evidence and potentially use it in our client's case to help our client and prove
their exposures to asbestos. In a case for navy seamen, there are many ways to establish
the evidence of exposure to asbestos. It all depends upon the individual facts of your
case.
I'm Joe Williams. I invite you to call my office so we can answer your questions.
We represent mesothelioma victims every day and we're here to answer questions for you.
Thank you..
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>> It's called mesothelioma, a condition brought
on by exposure to asbestos and classified as an orphan disease and while affecting only
a small percentage of the population both the CDC and National Cancer Institute report
that more than 3000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year. Here to discuss this
rare but deadly form of cancer and what's being done to bring justice to victims and
victim's family is Ricky LeBlanc, Managing Attorney of Sokolove Law, a nationwide law
firm that's helped bring justice and compensation to more than 2000 victims and their families
of asbestos related diseases and cancers. Good morning Ricky.
>> Good morning. >> Thank you so much for being here.
>> Thank you, glad to be here Olga.
>> Before we talk about this disease and what
your firm is doing, I know this passion that you have of helping people has come from something
that happened in your childhood. Would you mind sharing that with us?
>> Sure, I mean like many people, many viewers, I was the son of a pipe fitter and my mother
was a factory worker and so I came from a small blue collar town and I realized that
these people don't get access to justice and I wanted to do something about that so I became
a lawyer, and fortunately I landed in an asbestos firm as a young man and realized that these
are my neighbors, these people are my father's friends, it could be my father.
>> Let's be honest, these are people that really have done absolutely nothing wrong.
>> Nothing, these are hard working men and women that did their jobs and as a result
come down with this disease. >> And let's talk about the disease mesothelioma,
tell me exactly what it is? >> Well, let's keep it simple, mesothelioma
is, it's like having plastic wrap around each of your organs that are lined with grease,
that stops the organs from rubbing against each other, that's called the mesothelium
and this is the disease that's mesothelioma, is a cancer, very aggressive fast moving cancer.
>> And when that happens how long does it take for someone to notice uh, that they've
been exposed to this, are there symptoms? >> Yeah, the real issue is you're
exposed to it and then it's 30 to 50 years often before you actually develop the disease-
>> Oh my- >> It takes that long to manifest within the
body. >> Without you even knowing?
>> You wouldn't know at all.
>> And then what starts happening after those
years? >> After certain amount of time your body
stops being able to react to the infiltration of asbestos and then you start developing
this disease, mesothelioma. At first it may just feel like a low back pain or it may feel
like a little cough or other symptoms that could be pneumonia-like and so you think thats
what you have but if you're exposed to asbestos it's important to let your doctor know that
you were because they may start looking at something other than pneumonia or back sprain.
>> And Ricky, who falls victim to this? >> The majority of the people that develop
this disease were in occupations that are part of the trades, whether you are a pipe
fitter, a plumber, a carpenter, electrician or another significant audience is anybody
who's worked on ships, whether you be in the Navy or Coast Guard, Merchant Marines et cetera.
>> And I can only imagine when someone hears the news, not only is there shock for that
individual but for the entire family, it's got to be so painful.
>> Yeah, it's a devastating disease. When you hear that, your primary focus for those
families is immediately how do we take care of our loved one with the disease, how do
we seek the treatment, let's do what's best for them.
>> And let's talk about Sokolove Law, what are you doing in terms of helping these people
and the advantages that one would have to go see you?
>> Yeah, at Sokolove Law we understand that these people have been given this devastating
news and they have to do something about that, but they have to do something about it medically. When they call us we take care of the legal aspects of a case or claim they may have.
So we go to their homes, we do interviews there, we make it as easy as possible. They
should concentrate on fighting this disease, we'll concentrate on giving them justice.
>> So really it does involve the whole family because you need to not only talk to the victim
but also the family members in terms of finding out what happened here?
>> Yeah, I mean often family members and sometimes it's more like a brother or a sister that
knew them when they were young knew exactly where they were exposed and what happened,
and so everybody get's involved. And let's face it, the nuclear family, the husband and
wife, depending on which one is injured, they're concentrating on helping their spouse
and so it's often at times we talk to other family members to help assist in building
a case. >> There is no cure for this disease, obviously.
>> There isn't, not that right now, there's a lot of research going on and we're hopeful.
>> So when you hear these victims, they obviously know what's going to happen?
>> Generally speaking they do, yes.
>> Is it somewhat, and I say this very carefully,
rewarding for you to know that you've helped somebody that knows that they will eventually
die from this? >> That's why I do this. I mean, we started
this interview off talking about blue collar families which is where I come from and I
want to seek justice for them. This is an avoidable disease. If people don't use asbestos,
manufacturers didn't use asbestos in their product people wouldn't have this disease.
And so it gives a great deal of satisfaction to get justice for these people.
And you have people that thank you all the time because they want to leave knowing that
their family is taken care of.
>> You've had so many cases at Sokolove Law,
is there one that stands out in your mind that you just ... You'll never forget?
>> I remember an elderly gentleman who was battling the disease, his health was failing
rapidly and he just looked at me when he got his first check and said, "Thank you so much,
my roof is leaking, my wife doesn't have to live with this leaking roof anymore, I know
it's going to be fixed, I know you guys will take care of her."
>> Really great information today Ricky. For anybody out there that may know someone who's
been diagnosed with mesothelioma, anywhere they can go to find out more about your law
firm? >> Yes, they should go to the web, to sokolovelaw.Com
and they'll find all the information they need there.
>> Thank you so much for what you do..
