Asbestos Victim Shares His Mesothelioma Lawsuit Experience

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Steven Kazan

I have told hundreds of asbestos victims about the process of a mesothelioma lawsuit, yet nothing can prepare a client for the experience like the following excerpt. Thanks to Kazan Law client, Dr. Ron Gersten, for sharing his story in his book, Where the Mountain Takes Me, which he wrote with Gerry Mandel after his mesothelioma diagnosis in June of 2008.

The Courtyard by Marriott became the scene for a critical confrontation between the plaintiff Dr. Ron Gersten and a long list of defendants. The attorneys at Kazan Law sensed they had a strong case. They tried to cover every base, even bases that Ron was unaware of–his entire history, his grades in college, his affiliations and friends. Anything that might pertain to his condition, as remote as it might be, was examined inside and out.

Kazan’s team of investigators probed into every aspect of his case, from the companies responsible for the products and their lack of safety at the site, to the use of the asbestos in the products themselves. Thousands of pages of information were reviewed and potential witnesses contacted. The resources of this experienced law firm had been cranked into overdrive to move into the deposition quickly and effectively.

This phase of the hearings promised to put tremendous pressure on Ron. His sense of detail, his memory of events long past, his specific job functions, who, where and what the projects were, what kind of materials were used and who specified them—Kazan was a tremendous help.

Ron entered the room at the Marriott where fourteen attorneys were prepared to begin the deposition. Kazan Law partner Gordon Greenwood helped Ron to a chair. The process began after opening formalities. Ron’s lead attorney was a beautiful blonde woman with a perky attitude. More important, she was one hell of a lawyer. Her name was Andrea Huston and she ran the meeting with an iron fist.

The deposition lasted four days. Ron was in pain much of the time, and coughed frequently, a persistent attempt to clear his air passages. When he appeared to be tiring, Andrea halted the proceedings with a no-nonsense “Dr. Gersten is not in shape to continue. We will take a break.”

At the end of the four days, Ron went home and waited. He kept his cell phone near him throughout the day and night. They had sued fourteen entities. Gordon called occasionally to reassure him. Andrea kept him informed of where things stood. Ron’s wife, Martha, waited as breathlessly as Ron.

Andrea called one day not long after. “Good news, Ron. We’ve just settled one of the cases.” She told Ron a number and he almost dropped the phone. He had never seen that number before, not with a dollar sign attached to it anyway. Little by little, thirteen out of fourteen settled.

The size of the final awards ensured that all medical costs and living expenses for Ron and Martha would be taken care of.

Plan to Fully Ban Asbestos in Taiwan Underway

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Steven Kazan

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in Taiwan has published a timeline for the complete ban of asbestos in the country, according to a recent release.

Though most uses of asbestos are already banned in Taiwan, the EPA noted that some uses are still permitted, meaning a total elimination is still necessary. As a result, the EPA has established guidelines for the implementation of specific phases of the asbestos ban.

The schedule adopted by the EPA was reportedly designed to give industry groups a specific deadline to curtail, and ultimately, eliminate the use of the carcinogenic substance. Once the plan is fully adopted, Taiwan would join a growing list of countries that have decided to ban asbestos.

The plan

The deadline for the first phase of the plan has already come and gone, as on August 1, the use of asbestos in manufacturing “extruded cement composite hollow panels and construction sealants” was banned.

The next phase, which will be adopted on February 1, 2013, calls for the prohibition of asbestos in the manufacturing of roof tiles, according to the EPA. Asbestos can be found in roof tiles across the globe, as the material was once prized for its resistance to fire and utility as an insulator.

The final step in the EPA’s plan to fully ban asbestos in Taiwan will be implemented on July 1, 2018, when the carcinogenic substance will no longer be allowed in the manufacturing of brake linings, the administration said in its release.

In setting these deadlines, the EPA noted that the phasing out of asbestos use in the manufacturing of such products will lower the overall amount of the carcinogen in the country and, as a result, reduce the prevalence of asbestos-related illnesses, which include lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer.

Asbestos illnesses remain a major concern

Taiwan’s efforts to ban asbestos are crucial, particularly as the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 107,000 people die each year as a result of asbestos-related diseases.

The phase-out plan also sends a strong message to the rest of the world, particularly given the recent news from Canada, where an asbestos mine is scheduled to be revitalized as a result of a government loan.

International Groups Join Forces Against Quebec Asbestos Mine Reopening

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Steven Kazan

Though investors in the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec, may be celebrating the Quebec government’s recent decision to offer a $58 million loan to revitalize the mine, their cheers have been somewhat muted as a result of international criticism.

While supporters and asbestos industry lobbyists have hailed the decision, saying it will provide a significant economic boost, scientists and health groups have pointed to the significant dangers the mining of asbestos will bring to the forefront. Quebec has also been blasted for exporting the carcinogenic substance to developing countries while restricting its use at home.

According to Laurie Kazan-Allen, Coordinator for International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), one troubling aspect of the revitalization of the mine is that one key financier, Ulan Marketing Co. Ltd, is an asbestos conglomerate from Thailand. Despite the fact that the Thai government opted to ban asbestos last year, this commitment by Ulan demonstrates the effort of industry groups to reverse the restriction on asbestos.

The Montreal Gazette reports Ulan has provided $14 million to assist the project, while businessman Baljit Chadha and Jeffrey Mine president Bernard Coulombe have put down another $11 million total. That $25 million was required in order for the government to provide a guarantee on the $58 million loan, according to the news provider.

Overseas criticism grows louder

Opposition to the reopening of the Jeffrey mine can be seen across the globe. The British Parliament has denounced the decision by the Quebec government, while publications in Britain, Australia and India have also railed against the actions, according to Kazan-Allen.

In countries like Japan, India and Indonesia, protests have been held in front of Canadian embassies, while officials from other countries – including Korea and the Philippines – have sent letters to Canadian authorities asking them to cease the mining and exportation of asbestos.

Developing countries like these often bear the brunt of such actions by the Canadian government, as they import the asbestos despite the known risks. According to the World Health Organization, asbestos-related diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma – a rare cancer that attacks the tissues surrounding many of the body’s inner organs – kill approximately 107,000 people around the world each year.

History of Punitive Damages and Our Civil Justice System

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Steven Kazan

Western civilization has held society members responsible for what they do and and the damage they cause for some 4,000 years. As early as the Book of Exodus, in addition to awarding damages to compensate people injured by the careless or malicious acts of others, the Bible also recognized that it was important to impose punitive-type damages to punish intentionally wrongful acts that interfered with society’s most important activities in a society that depended on agriculture and farming as its primary means for support and sustenance.

Please join me in my sixth and final short talk in a series of videos devoted to understanding the Bible as the basis for our civil justice system’s compensation of those who are hurt by the act of others, and the evolution of punitive damages to punish those who deserve it, as reflected in today’s American law.

History of Personal Injury Law and Our Civil Justice System

History of Civil Liability and Compensatory Damages

History of Construction Law and Our Civil Justice System

History of Product Liability Law

International Health Officials Release Statement Calling for Asbestos Ban

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Steven Kazan

A new statement released by a number of organizations and supported by more than 150 health groups and scientists in twenty countries is calling on the complete and total ban of asbestos mining, use and exportation.

The statement comes amid controversy over the Quebec government’s decision to extend a loan to help revitalize the Jeffrey asbestos mine in the town of Asbestos. Critics of the move have pointed to Canada’s seemingly contradictory policies of restricting asbestos use at home while continuing to export the carcinogenic material to developing countries.
“Continued use of asbestos will lead to a public health disaster of asbestos-related illness and premature death for decades to come, repeating the epidemic we are witnessing today in industrialized countries that used asbestos in the past,” Dr. Stanley Weiss, chair of the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology (JPC-SE), said in a statement.

Weiss pointed to the “irrefutable scientific evidence of harm to human health resulting from exposure to all forms of asbestos,” which includes the development of illnesses such as lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer.

Dr. Robert Hiatt, a representative of the American College of Epidemiology, added in the statement that the health groups were calling on countries such as Canada, Russia, Brazil and Kazakhstan to stop mining and exporting the dangerous material, and assist their mining communities with this shift.

Evidence of asbestos dangers seen around the world

The statement, which is 25 pages, posits that in addition to dangers posed by the exportation of asbestos to developing countries, mining nations are also endangering their own citizens. One look at the community of Libby, Montana, offers evidence to this assertion, as 400 people in the area have been killed by asbestos-related diseases and another 1,700 have been sickened as a result of the operations of the W.R. Grace and Company vermiculite operations.

In the statement, the health organizations criticize asbestos industry groups over what they believe has been intimidation tactics designed to suppress the thoughts of scientists.

Despite any attempts, however, the evidence is clear. The World Health Organization estimates that asbestos-related diseases claim the lives of approximately 107,000 individuals each year.

Landmark Study Implicates Enzyme in Respiratory Cancers Like Mesothelioma

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Steven Kazan

In the world of experimental, targeted mesothelioma treatments, scientists have thousands of potential targets to work with. Literally – since, according to Shayne Cox Gad’s Handbook of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, the human body contains at least 3,000 unique enzymes and 40,000 discrete proteins. While some of these molecules have nothing to do with malignant growth, others have been tied to the genesis of specific cancers.

CK2-alpha is one such enzyme. In a landmark study published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers from the Thoracic Oncology Laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) became the first team to link CK2-alpha to a cellular signalling pathway that can cause respiratory cancers if uncontrolled.

This knowledge may contribute to better treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

The first domino to fall

According to the report, CK2-alpha is responsible for “switching on” at least 300 separate proteins in the human body. Hence, this enzyme is so important for the delicate balance of cell growth and death that (researchers reasoned) CK2-alpha could easily lead to cancers if it went haywire.

The team explained that, in a number of malignancies, CK2-alpha levels are higher than normal. In fact, cancers that have very high CK2-alpha concentrations often have poorer prognoses.

Why? Well, without being sure, a number of oncologists have suspected that this enzyme can set off a cascade of cellular effects that cause uncontrolled growth.

To do so, overactive CK2-alpha seems to work through the Hedgehog (Hh) family of proteins – namely, the Indian, Desert and Sonic Hedgehog trio. (And yes, the latter is named for a video game character.) Hh proteins control organ development and stem cell growth. When CK2-alpha levels jump – possibly due to asbestos exposure – the enzyme probably cranks up the activity of the Hh proteins, leading to the creation of cancerous stem cells.

At least, that was the theory. Now, the UCSF team has essentially proved it.

Establishing it three separate ways

In cementing CK2-alpha’s role as an Hh destabilizer and respiratory cancer generator, the group went about it in three distinct ways:

They analyzed 100 separate cancer tissues and established that the levels of CK2-alpha often match those of Gli1, a protein that, to put it crudely, does the Hh proteins’ dirty work.
The team used chemicals to shut off CK2-alpha activity in cancer cells. This resulted in lower levels of Gli1. It also led to lower levels of cancer stem cells in the tissue.
The UCSF group tried the opposite, cranking up CK2-alpha production. This led, as they suspected, to an overabundance of Gli1.

Researchers concluded that CK2-alpha may be a novel target for respiratory cancer treatments.

History of Product Liability Law

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Steven Kazan

During presidential election years in particular, there is much talk about what is wrong with our civil justice system. Yet many people don’t recognize that our tort law has its foundation in the Bible. Here in the fifth of my video series, The Bible and Our Civil Justice System, I discuss the evolution of modern products liability law from biblical times to today.

Today’s rules reflect the laws established to protect citizens from the risks presented by oxen in biblical times. l also discuss the Bible’s version of construction defect law and the origins of modern uniform building and construction codes.

Please join me as I trace the evolution of today’s product liability law over the past 4,000 years.

History of Personal Injury Law and Our Civil Justice System

History of Construction Law and Our Civil Justice System

History of Civil Liability and Compensatory Damages

History of Punitive Damages and Our Civil Justice System

Take-Home Asbestos Exposure Case Stories

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Steven Kazan

Kazan Law client Ronald Ricker with his mother, Clara in 1991

Though occupational asbestos exposure is the most common kind, people can come into contact with the deadly mineral in many other ways. It can line the buildings they live in, occur in natural ore deposits near their homes or even be brought home by their spouses or family members as dust, usually on clothing and in hair.

This is called paraoccupational asbestos exposure, and it happens more often than you might think.

At Kazan, McClain, Lyons, Greenwood and Harley, we’ve been involved in dozens of cases over the years that involved individuals whose health was ruined by paraoccupational exposure. In many of these cases, the asbestos brought home on clothes ultimately resulted in one or more people developing malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

Deadly dust has consequences decades later

Studies have shown that this form of exposure can radically increase the risk of asbestosis and MPM, even in young adults. To give you an idea of the toll paraoccupational exposure can take, here are some summary details on a pair of “take-home” asbestos cases that we have represented:

– Ronald Ricker. Living in Northern California in the 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Ricker was exposed to asbestos in two different ways. First, his mother, Clara, brought home fibers on her clothing, body and personal effects while working at Varian, Inc., a scientific instruments manufacturer. (Specifically, she worked with Rockbestos asbestos insulated wire products from 1966 to 1971.) Ronald also came into contact with the mineral during his own employment as a machinist at Varian, Inc. from 1969 to 1971. In October 2009, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

In his deposition, Mr. Ricker noted that his mother “always looked like she had been working, you know – she was a little bit dirtier and dustier [when she got home from work].”

When asked if she ever changed clothes after getting home, he said “not until after dinner, when she was taking a bath.” He and his mother had dinner together every day, a ritual that in all likelihood dramatically increased his amount of paraoccupational asbestos exposure.

– Jeanette Franklin. Our client, Ms. Franklin, was just a girl in the 1940s, when both of her parents worked at USX Corporation’s Western Pipe and Steel shipyard in South San Francisco. Her father worked as welder, while her mother acted as a carpenter’s assistant. Virtually every day, her parents unknowingly carried deadly asbestos fibers home on their clothing, exposing their young children to a deadly carcinogen. Because asbestos fibers work their way into pleural cells and lodge there, the mineral can take decades to cause MPM – and it did. In March 1999, Jeanette Franklin was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

ICOH Releases Statement Urging Worldwide Asbestos Ban

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Steven Kazan

Joining a number of other global health groups including the World Health Organization, the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) recently issued a statement condemning the use of asbestos and calling for a global ban.

In the statement, the commission notes that after much discussion about the use of the carcinogenic substance in various industries, it decided to encourage each individual country to totally ban the production and use of asbestos.

ICOH pointed specifically to guidance handed down by the World Health Organization in 2006, which said that the most efficient way to reduce the number of asbestos-related diseases would be to halt the use of all types of the carcinogenic material.

The diseases referred to by WHO and the ICOH include lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that attacks the tissues surrounding the majority of the body’s internal organs. WHO estimates indicate that approximately 107,000 individuals succumb to these illnesses around the world each year.

ICOH emphasizes total ban

In its statement, ICOH examined the various manners in which different countries have dealt with the issue of asbestos. While some countries have adopted universal bans of the material, others have halted production and use of amphibole and crocidolite, but not chrysotile.

Still others, like Canada, have taken seemingly contradictory stances over asbestos, giving the green light to the production and exportation of the carcinogen while restricting its use at home. In the statement, ICOH was extremely critical of such practices.

“Some countries have banned the production and/or use of asbestos-containing industrial products, but have continued to mine, sell and export asbestos,” the commission said. “This is an unacceptable policy and should be reconsidered by those countries. In order to be effective, a total ban on production, use and export of all forms of asbestos should be achieved in every country.”

This type of criticism has been leveled by health and safety groups across Canada, many of which have said the country is “exploiting” developing nations such as India by continually exporting asbestos to them.

Recently, much to the chagrin of these organizations, the Quebec government took another step in the wrong direction when it approved a loan that will reportedly revitalize the Jeffrey asbestos mine in the aptly named town of Asbestos.

Judge Ruling Provides Asbestos Victims with Access to Information to Support Prosecution

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Steven Kazan

Kazan Law attorney William F. Ruiz‘s diligent efforts helped bring about a victory for asbestos disease victims in seeking information they need to prosecute their lawsuit.

On June 29, 2012, in the case Godinez-Phillips v. Allied Packing & Supply, Inc. (RG10543768), Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jo-Lynne Q. Lee denied defendant Turner Construction Company’s motion for reconsideration of a previous order requiring Turner to comply with the victims’ notice of deposition of its corporate representative and custodian of records. This ruling prevents Turner from avoiding complying with the notice of deposition by producing a knowledgable witness or relevant documents.

Judge Lee in so holding specifically refused to interpret a recent appellate decision as prohibiting an employee’s family members from suing for asbestos-related diseases that were at least partly caused by the employee’s employment.

Posts by: Steven Kazan

Asbestos Victim Shares His Mesothelioma Lawsuit Experience

Plan to Fully Ban Asbestos in Taiwan Underway

International Groups Join Forces Against Quebec Asbestos Mine Reopening

History of Punitive Damages and Our Civil Justice System

International Health Officials Release Statement Calling for Asbestos Ban

Landmark Study Implicates Enzyme in Respiratory Cancers Like Mesothelioma

History of Product Liability Law

Take-Home Asbestos Exposure Case Stories

ICOH Releases Statement Urging Worldwide Asbestos Ban

Judge Ruling Provides Asbestos Victims with Access to Information to Support Prosecution

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