Archive for year: 2023

What to Do If You Were Injured by a Drunk Driver (Podcast)

June 28, 2023/in Car Accidents, Podcasts/by Paul Kelley

In this podcast, Paul Kelley talks with John Maher about what to do if you are injured by a drunk driver. He explains your rights and when you should contact an attorney. Then, he talks about what type of compensation you may be entitled to.

John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher. I’m here today with Paul Kelley. Paul is a partner with the Kentucky personal injury law firm, Satterley & Kelley, which has over 30 years of collective experience in handling personal injury and wrongful death claims. Today we’re talking about what to do if you were injured by a drunk driver. Welcome, Paul.

Paul Kelley: Hey, John. How you doing today?

Legal Consequences of Driving Under the Influence

John: Good, thanks. Paul, what constitutes driving under the influence or DUI, and what are the legal consequences if you’re found guilty for that offense?

Paul: Sure. Most states have pretty tough DUI laws. There’s some differences from state to state. I’ll focus on Kentucky because that’s where I’m at today, but I think this is probably true for most places. You’ve probably heard the term .08 or .10. That’s blood alcohol level.

Under Kentucky, the presumptive intoxication level is .08. That means that if a blood draw or under a breathalyzer test, if someone, it registers .08 or above, they were presumptively intoxicated. There are ways to rebut that presumption. It’s very difficult to do, particularly if there is a wreck or some sort of injury that’s resulted from the incident giving rise to the DUI. But there are certainly situations where people can have those levels in their blood alcohol content and still not be intoxicated.

But quite frankly, when they register .08 or above, then the burden really shifts to them at that point to prove that they were not legally intoxicated at the time that they were pulled over or the time that there was a collision or something of that nature.

The legal consequences for those found guilty of DUI are significant. There’s usually a jail sentence that’s associated with that. Frequently, in a lot of states, including Kentucky, for a first offense, that’s typically probated, meaning people don’t actually serve that time, but they can if they have subsequent violations. There’s heavy fines associated with it. It can be hundreds of dollars if not in thousands of dollars for first offenses. There are license suspensions that are going to be appropriate and will be mandated. There are requirements that people undergo education for alcohol awareness to make sure that they understand what the repercussions are of driving while intoxicated. When people have subsequent DUIs, which unfortunately occurs, then there are stiffer penalties for a second, a third, and a fourth. Eventually, it will have your license taken away for a very long time and could result in significant prison time.

That’s assuming that no one’s injured in a DUI situation. If someone’s injured or someone’s killed, well then there’s a whole new level of problems that the drunk driver has. Frequently, they’re charged with manslaughter. Sometimes they’re charged with varying degrees of murder, aggravated assault; a wide range of offenses that will put them in jail for a significant period of time for causing injury to people. All of those cases are different depending on the facts of the case, and how much they drank, and the mechanism of how injuries occurred.

But the bottom line is I think we’ve been working very hard in this country through most of my life, to try to eliminate or reduce drunk driving incidents and accidents. The consequences are significant for those that violate those laws, and they’re very significant for people that cause injury or death as a result of a DUI collision.

Injuries Caused by Drunk Driving

John: Okay, and what are some of the different ways that somebody could be injured by a drunk driver?

Paul: Sure. Your standard situation would be the drunk driver that hits another car and injures the driver and the passenger of that car or truck or whatever. That’s probably one of the more common ways.

There’s also the passengers that are in the vehicle driven by the drunk driver. People should not get in vehicles that are being driven by someone who’s intoxicated, but unfortunately it happens and frequently they’re injured or killed as a result of the driver being intoxicated and being reckless and careless.

Then frequently pedestrians are hit. We see this all the time. It’s really tragic. You’ll have someone who’s broken down on the side of an interstate, not much room on the shoulder. Maybe they’re waiting for a tow truck, maybe the tow truck driver is hooking their car up, and somebody crashes into them and injures or kills them on the highway, and all they were doing was trying to get their car up and running again and get it out of the way.

Those are frequent ways. Of course, there are other ways that intoxicated people generally can harm people. There’s motorcycle wrecks, there’s recreational vehicle wrecks, again, causing injury to passengers, to other drivers, to pedestrians. The bottom line is, unfortunately, when drunk drivers are on the road, the law of averages says they will cause a catastrophic injury or death at some point, and we don’t know when it’ll happen and we’re all vulnerable when we’re out on the roads on any given day.

What to Do If You’re Injured by a Drunk Driver

John: Right. If somebody is injured by a drunk driver in one of those ways that you just mentioned, what are some of the first things that they should do?

Paul: Well, unfortunately, typically people are catastrophically injured. In the situation that I described where they’re hit by a car on the interstate while they’re waiting for their car to be hooked up to a tow truck, they’re going to receive significant medical care.

Under Kentucky Law, we have a bit of a time, we have a couple years to be able to pursue and investigate a claim. You obviously have a claim against the intoxicated driver. That’s easy. It’s one that, quite frankly, people would win almost a hundred percent of the time.

But at some point, we want to figure out where that person was drinking, how did they become intoxicated, because there’s always a possibility that there’s somebody else that can be held accountable for causing a DUI collision. Under Kentucky law, and almost all states have something similar, we have what are called dram shop laws.

A dram shop is basically a professional bar, restaurant, any public place that sells liquor, alcohol for money, and they all have responsibilities under the law to not over-serve people, to not serve visibly intoxicated people, obviously intoxicated people.

One of the first things that people should do once they hopefully begin their recovery from their injury or their families, when the families begin to recover from whatever occurred, is they need to consult with a lawyer. You’re not going to get any of the answers to those questions on your own. Occasionally, the drunk driver, if they survived the crash, occasionally they’ll tell the police, “Oh, I was drinking at this restaurant down the street.” Sometimes you get that kind of information and it can help kickstart, but frequently you don’t. It requires some investigation. I don’t think most people are equipped to be able to track that information down without the assistance of a lawyer.

You need to research folks, lawyers that do this kind of work, and hire one to conduct the investigation for you because there is a difference. Again, I’m going to focus on Kentucky because that’s where I’m at, but there is a difference in how long you have to investigate a claim against the drunk driver versus how long you have to investigate the claim against the dram shop. We have two years from the date of collision to investigate the claim for the drunk driver because that’s controlled by the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. We’ve carved out a special two-year statute of limitations for motor vehicle collisions, including a DUI.

But the claim against the dram shop, the bar, the restaurant, the place serving liquor, we still only have one year from the date of the collision, essentially, to pursue a claim, to file a lawsuit against that entity.Time goes by fast. If it takes you three months to hire a lawyer and you don’t know where the driver was drinking, well then that only gives about nine months to be able to figure it out. Obviously, if you wait longer, then it just shortens the period of time.

It’s critical to contact someone to represent your interest, who can start conducting the investigation. We’ll do a lot of things to try to figure that out. It very well may be, John, that they were drinking at home or drinking with a buddy-

John: Sure.

Paul: Or drinking somewhere that we just can’t hold anyone accountable other than the drunk driver. That certainly happens. But more… Well, I don’t want to put statistics on it, but frequently, people go to these bars, many are very responsible and follow the law and do what they’re supposed to do, but many, they just don’t care and they’ll just serve somebody as much alcohol as that person wants and will pay for. When that happens, then catastrophic things happen.

How Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Help?

John: Right. What are some of the ways that an experienced personal injury lawyer like yourself can help somebody who’s been injured by a drunk driver?

Paul: Absolutely. First, we’re certainly going to try to get as much information as we can from the driver. Typically, the driver will be represented by an attorney. Sometimes they’re not. But we want to see if the driver and the driver’s attorney will give us information as to where they had been drinking.

That’s one thing we do. We collect all of the police reports. If there happened to be an accident reconstruction, sometimes state police departments will do accident reconstructions on state highways. We want to collect all that information. We want to collect any investigations that are being conducted by the police because obviously a crime has been committed, they’re going to charge the drunk driver with a DUI and a whole litany of offenses for causing the collision.

We want to get all that information because a lot of what we need to figure out, such as where the person had been drinking and how much they drank, may have already been done by the police. But the police won’t just give that to anybody. It takes some time and some hoops to jump through in order to get that information. There’s information you can get through open records request. There’s information that’s protected from dissemination in the open records request.

Once we get some idea of where the person was drinking, then we start scouring around for video. Video is very important. I hate to tell everybody, but you’re videoed all the time, whether you know it or not. You’re videoed on the sidewalks, you’re videoed in establishments, you’re videoed on the highways. There are cameras everywhere. We try to identify where those cameras are, see if we can find any information at all concerning all of the parties that are at issue. We want to get information on our clients, see if we can kind of reconstruct where they had been and what they had done. We want to try to reconstruct what the defendant, the driver, has done.

We want to notify any possibly at-fault parties that we’re conducting an investigation. We send letters to them and say, “Don’t destroy anything. Don’t get rid of the videotape. Don’t get rid of credit card receipts. Don’t get rid of anything and everything that could be associated with that night.” If they do and we end up filing a lawsuit, that can have negative repercussions for them if there are things that would’ve helped us prove our case that they got rid of. It’s 50/50, Sometimes they do. They just take my letter, wad it up, throw it in the trash and say, “Come and get us.” Other times, yeah, they save the stuff and we get it. Sometimes it’s useful, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s neutral. But those are important things to be able to do.

Then at some point, we want to interview witnesses, if there was more than one person who was involved in the collision, if we identify bartenders, waitstaff, employees of the establishment, and customers that were there. There’s a wide variety of weapons that we have at our disposal to be able to investigate and ultimately prove the case against the dram shop.

Why You Need Experienced Legal Representation

John: Right. All of these things that you just mentioned really sound like things that an experienced professional like yourself, a lawyer… you know what to do, you think of all of these things. These are not things that your average person would just be able to go and investigate themselves.

Paul: I couldn’t imagine any person that doesn’t do this for a living being able to get most of this information. Certainly, there are situations where maybe they’re connected to the defendant in some way, but once the defendant is represented by a lawyer, represented by usually insurance companies involved, you can’t talk to them. That’s completely off limits. You can only talk to them with the lawyer’s permission.

The last thing that anybody wants is to, A, try to investigate on their own and try to figure things out before going to talk to a lawyer. The next to last thing that you want to do is retain somebody that practices real estate law, or does contract work, or something else.

John: Right. Like, “My uncle’s a lawyer, he is going to represent me.” Yeah.

Paul: That’s right. We all have our specialties or things that we have unique experience with. There’s a lot of people that certainly do what I do, and there’s a lot of people that don’t. But you don’t want someone having to research, well, what should I be doing in this situation when that case comes in?

Because nine months or six months or even a year, it just blows by so fast. I live in a world of deadlines and I get to the end of every day and I leave my head scratching, what happened to today? How is it 5:00, 6:00? Here we are, it’s almost the end of April. How are we done with a third of the year already? Time goes by fast. Every day that you don’t have someone working for you is every day that you are not going to be able to be successful.

Just remember that the drunk driver usually has insurance. The insurance company knows about it immediately, so they’re conducting their investigation. They have a multi-day, if not multi-week jump on you. If there was a dram shop, a liquor establishment that was at issue or responsible for causing or contributing to the intoxication, they’re probably going to know about it before the plaintiff will, before the injured party’s lawyer will. Everybody’s getting a big drop on you.

It’s tough because if you’ve broken your arm and leg and five ribs and have a bad injury, hiring a lawyer is probably not at the very top of the list. But it certainly has to be toward the top and you can’t waste a lot of time. I can do a lot of work while you’re recovering. I can get a lot accomplished while you’re recovering. You worry about you. You worry about getting healthy, physical therapy, just the recovery process. You let us worry about collecting the evidence necessary to determine whether you’ve got a case against somebody other than the drunk driver themselves.

Types of Damages in DUI Injury Cases

John: What types of damages can be recovered in a personal injury lawsuit against a drunk driver or a dram shop, and how are these damages calculated?

Liquidated Damages

Paul: Sure. There’s what we call the hard damages or the liquidated damages. You’ve got medical expenses, both past and future. You’ve got any lost income suffered by the injured party. Those are easily calculated. God forbid if there’s a death, you can get funeral expenses. Those are easily calculated. The expenses are what they are.

Obviously, with respect to lost income, that can be a little tricky depending on what the injury is. There are some people that are going to get to go back to work six months later and they’re only going to lose six months. When they go back to their job, it’s business as usual.

There are some people that may never get to go back to the job they had before and have to go back to something that they were earning far less. Some people are completely disabled and can never work again. They’re some people that have died.

John: It must be hard to know where somebody’s going to be in, say, five years from now, whether they’ll be able to work or not.

Paul: That’s true. We certainly can get some insight into that based upon the nature of the injury, and doctors can give information, and there are experts that can give information and advice. But yeah, we have no idea. Somebody may break their leg in three or four places and their job is to work on the railroad, a very physically demanding job.

Everybody has different thresholds. Everybody has different desires as to what they want to do. Some people throw their hands up in the air and say, “I just can’t do that anymore. I’m not even going to try.” Some people are stubborn and like, “I’ve worked my entire life, and darn it, I’m not going to stop now.” The beauty-

John: People recover in different ways, too. Somebody might work really hard and get fully back to health. Then another person might struggle with that and it could be years before they even get 80% back or something.

Lost Earning Potential

Paul: Absolutely. One of, I think, the best part of Kentucky law and a lot of state law is we’re not really doing a future prediction of what that person is going to lose. What we’re doing is, looking at the impact on their ability to power and labor to earn money. We’re not saying, “Oh, well, Mr. X made $50,000 a year and he would get a 5% increase for the next 20 years, and this is what he would get.” We look at Mr. X’s total package; education level, work history level, any certificates they have, their whole body of work and their life.

What the economists do or what they can do is say, “This person has this kind of earning capacity based upon education, training, and experience,” and put a number on that. The jury’s job is not to just accept that carte blanche and say, “Okay, well, the economist says two and a half million dollars.” The jury can say, “We think that based on what we’re hearing, that more than likely this person will be able to get back and do something in a year or so, so we’re going to award $500,000 for future impairment, the power and labor to earn money.”

If you’ve got a death, well then that’s a different situation. If you’ve got somebody that’s 40 years old and they pass away with a 25, 28, 30-year work-life expectancy, people are going to understand that and calculate damages accordingly.

We can’t go into the Kentucky statutes and have some sort of formula that says, “This is what you do.” It’s all unique based upon the particular victim’s situation and there are experts and economists that can assist us in doing that.

Pain and Suffering

Those are what we call the liquidated damages. Beyond that, you have other types of damages. I’m sure everybody’s heard of pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is not a liquidated damage. It is subjective in a lot of respects. We will go to juries and ask juries to make its determination based upon the person’s injuries as to what their pain and suffering could be. Again, there’s no guide that we can go to that says, “Soft tissue back injury, this is what you get. Broken leg, this is what you get.” It’s all going to be based upon the unique circumstances of that individual, and then certainly what the jury ultimately thinks that this person has suffered.

Obviously, John, if somebody becomes a paraplegic, juries are probably going to award significant amounts of money in that situation. Of course, nobody wants to be a paraplegic. Nobody wants to not be able to walk again, to be wheelchair-bound, and have those kinds of injuries. But certainly, the more severe the injury, the more significant that a jury’s going to put on pain and suffering.

You probably hear soft tissue injuries all the time. People have a back strain, a muscle pull, just some bruising that occurs, things that typically resolve. Lots of times, juries are certainly not going to award a lot of money for pain and suffering in those situations. But it’s all available and it’s all largely based upon, A) obviously what the jury thinks about your evidence, but certainly the way it impacts the victim’s life. Everything impacts people differently. Professionals that maybe don’t use their body for their job, white collar workers, they might be able to handle injuries differently than somebody that has to go work a brutally physical job every day.

Pain and suffering I think has an impact on that. I can sit at my desk for hours upon hours and my back is probably in better shape sitting than standing all day. But some people, they don’t have that luxury. Every-

John: Yeah. For some people, it might be hurting them every time they move and they’re moving constantly all day long.

Paul: Absolutely.

John: Right.

Loss of Consortium

Paul: Absolutely. There’s pain and suffering. You can also get, if someone is married, there’s something called loss of consortium. Loss of consortium is kind of a nebulous term. It refers to the loss of companionship or the impact on companionship services of the victim spouse.

Again, there’s no formula for that. Frequently, we see situations where people have died in a catastrophic collision or some event like that. That’s the ultimate loss of consortium. The living spouse literally lost the person that they were planning on spending their entire life with. Now at age 40, they’ve lost that person. Juries can award money for damages as a result of that loss. That’s unique just to the spouse, not to the victim themselves.

Punitive Damages

In some situations, juries can award punitive damages. Punitive damages or punishment damages, they are meant to punish and deter. We see situations in these cases all the time where you’ve got a bar or some sort of restaurant that has policies in place, and the policies say that you shouldn’t serve somebody more than so many drinks in an hour.

You should require people to eat along with their alcohol consumption at some point to prevent them from becoming more intoxicated. If somebody’s visibly intoxicated, you should not give them more alcohol. You should make arrangements or try to make arrangements to prevent that person from getting into a vehicle and driving.

Lots of times, places will have those policies, but the problem is they don’t follow them. It’s just written words in a book and they don’t follow them. They don’t offer customers food. They don’t try to restrict the drinking. There are some places that unfortunately give away alcohol, which in a lot of respects, there are a lot of places it’s not really legal, but there are ways that they can get around it, and they do it. There are some places that promote intoxication.

In those situations, if you can prove that, you can get punitive damages. You can get a jury to say, “Mr. Bar, you should not have served this much alcohol to this person. You should not have done what you did, and you knew better than that. You know that if somebody’s sitting at a bar and you serve them 10 beers and five straight bourbons, they’re probably going to be beyond intoxicated, and we can hold you not only responsible for causing the injuries, but we can punish and hopefully try to deter you from doing it the next time.”

Again, there’s no formula or calculation that can be performed for punitive damages. Our Supreme Court has given some guidance. They don’t really like to see awards more than three or four times the compensatory damages. All those other things, the medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering. But that having been said, every situation’s unique and sometimes they’ll uphold punitive damages awards for bigger than that.

But those are the damages that are available. Our experience is that lots of times if someone was drinking at a bar and became intoxicated and got into a collision, typically there were lots and lots of violations of both policy or industry norms. Some places don’t have those policies. Well, just because you don’t have the policy doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want. Then we look at the industry norms. What’s the standard of care? You probably hear about standard of care for doctors or lawyers. Well, there’s a standard of care for bars. If you choose not to adopt your own policies and follow those policies, well that’s bad too. That just means that you just wanted to serve as much alcohol to people and get as much money as you could from that person. What they did when they walked out your door is somebody else’s problem. Kentucky law, and a lot of states, not every state, but a lot of states allow juries to punish them for that kind of conduct.

Contact Us If You’ve Been Injured by a Drunk Driver

John: All right. Well, that’s all really great information, Paul. Thanks again for speaking with me today.

Paul: Thanks, John.

John: For more information about personal injury and wrongful death claims, visit the law firm of Satterley & Kelley at SatterleyLaw.com or call 855-385-9532.

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What to Do After a Mesothelioma Diagnosis

The Role of Corporate Responsibility in Mesothelioma Lawsuits (Podcast)

June 26, 2023/in Mesothelioma, Podcasts/by Paul Kelley

In this podcast, Paul Kelley talks with John Maher about the role of corporate responsibility in asbestos lawsuits. He explains the different ways that corporations attempt to evade responsibility so they don’t have to pay injury claims.

John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher. I’m here today with Paul Kelley. Paul is a partner with the Kentucky personal injury law firm, Satterley & Kelley, which has over 30 years of collective experience in handling cases involving mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. Today we’re talking about the role of corporate responsibility in mesothelioma lawsuits. Welcome Paul.

Paul Kelley: Hi, John. How are you doing today?

What Causes Mesothelioma?

John: Good, thanks. Yeah. So Paul, can you explain a little bit first about what causes mesothelioma and how it’s affected people in the workplace?

Paul: Sure. So it’s universally accepted in the medical and scientific literature that really the sole cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. And I’ll concede that some of my adversaries say otherwise. And there’s a little bit of controversy in the literature usually created by corporate money that other things cause mesothelioma. But everybody agrees that asbestos is the primary cause of nearly all mesotheliomas in the United States and throughout the world.

Where Does Asbestos Exposure Occur?

And since the 1930s and really all the way through the present, there have been people that have been exposed to asbestos in the workplace in a variety of different ways. I mean, you have people who worked in the manufacturing plants where products were made to contain asbestos, and they were exposed to raw asbestos fibers. We’ve seen people that worked in factory settings that took an asbestos product and incorporated it into some other product. So think of a vehicle that was manufactured with asbestos containing brakes. Think about panel box like your electrical box at your house that was manufactured with asbestos products. And then that box was incorporated into some other bigger product. There are numerous products like that.

People have been exposed. There’s the brake worker who performs brake work who’s exposed to asbestos in a number of different ways. There are insulators who had to install and remove asbestos containing insulation from pipes and boilers and turbines and all kinds of other equipment over the course of their life. There are roofers who installed asbestos containing shingles, electricians that worked with asbestos containing products. So for a long time, asbestos was something that mostly the heart and soul of America, our blue collar workers, our skilled laborers, tradespeople were exposed to heavy levels of asbestos.

In the United States that’s been diminished greatly in a lot of respects. However, something that’s very prevalent right now is talc, and talc is a product that is a naturally occurring product. It’s similar to asbestos, which is also a naturally occurring product. And there are people that work in talc mines and talc processing plants that are still exposed to asbestos in 2023. And then perhaps not germane to what we want to talk about today, but all throughout the world, I mean India, China, several other countries, they don’t have the same restrictions on asbestos as what we do in the United States and what other countries do. So worldwide, people are still being exposed to harmful, harmful levels of asbestos even in 2023.

Do Corporations Take Responsibility forAsbestos Exposure?

John: So how does corporate responsibility impact the way that companies handle asbestos exposure in a mesothelioma lawsuit?

Paul: John, that’s a really interesting question. It’s all over the board. We have a lot of companies that we deal with, and I don’t want to name names in this particular podcast. It’s probably not appropriate. But there are a lot of companies that are pretty forthcoming with us, and we’re able to establish that our client was exposed to their product, they accept responsibility and they want to do the right thing and try to come to a fair and reasonable resolution of whatever controversy we have.

There are other companies that no matter what the evidence is, no matter who the plaintiff is, or under what circumstances the exposure occurred, they deny, they fight, they do everything in their power to avoid facing any responsibility whatsoever. It’s a really big problem with what we do because the evidence usually is overwhelming that these companies were aware when they sold asbestos containing products that they contained asbestos.

I mean, of course they knew. They intended for the product to be there. They were aware that asbestos was a carcinogen. They were aware that asbestos caused fatal cancers in people. And when we still see companies today that have faced literally thousands of lawsuits and have killed thousands of people, and they treat every case like it’s new and it’s different, it’s a clean slate and throw their hands up in the air and say, we’re not responsible, it certainly makes our job more difficult but that’s what we’ve been hired to do, is to deal with companies like that. But it also is a really cynical and manipulative way of facing their obligations as being a good corporate citizen. It doesn’t matter that they stopped making these products decades ago, they made lots and lots of money.

Some Corporations Evade Responsibility by Paying for Research to Make Them Look Innocent

I mean hundreds of millions, billions of dollars if you brought it up to kind of the current present value. I mean, tens of billions of dollars from these products, and they still don’t want to face any responsibility for it. And instead, what they’ve done, they’ve gone the other way. They have paid for science to undermine all of the legitimate sources of science that are out there that say that asbestos causes disease or their asbestos causes disease.

And we see a lot of that. We just didn’t see 25, 30 years ago. It used to be that they would at least acknowledge that their product was capable of causing mesothelioma. Now, they don’t even do that now. Now they fight us every step of the way. Now that’s corporate responsibility from kind of a litigation standpoint. There’s another level of corporate responsibility. And what are they doing now? What are they doing now to try to prevent exposures from occurring in the future? Most asbestos products, or most cases that I deal with were for products that were made back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, that companies don’t make anymore.

And so I mean, for whatever reason, I wouldn’t pat them on the back and say they’re being good corporate citizens, but they’ve stopped making the products. So moving forward, people shouldn’t be harmed by those products. But there are products today that still contain asbestos, and we talked about it a moment ago, talc is something.

Some Corporations Continue Selling Dangerous Products

So corporations have a choice today, do we continue to sell this product? Do we take it off the market? If we continue to sell the product, do we warn about the product? Do we work with the FDA and other regulatory agencies to develop a testing protocol for the product, or do we lone wolf it and try to hide from the public what the potential risks of the product are? And so from a litigation standpoint, I believe that the ultimate exposure that a defendant has in terms of what a jury might do depends on decisions that they made 30 years ago and depends on decisions that they’re making today.

If it’s a product that they’re still selling, it’s a different world today, and they cram that concept down my throat in cases and say, you can’t judge people by 2023 standards for products that were made in the 70s because things were different back then. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but I certainly understand why they would say that. Well, what about the company that’s making the product in 2023? Can we judge that company by the 2023 standard? Of course we can.

So corporate responsibility is a big issue. I think it has a big impact, not just on litigation, but it has a big impact on the safety of people. And my job, I have two responsibilities. One is to the particular client that I have to try to recover for whatever injuries that they’ve suffered as a result of a bad corporate actor. But the other job we have is to try to stop it from happening in the future.

And if it’s something that’s being made today, it shouldn’t be. And if it is, warnings should be provided and people shouldn’t have to guess when they go to the grocery store or the drugstore and pull something off the shelf. They shouldn’t have to worry is there something in there that’s not only capable of causing me cancer, but there’s a pretty darn good shot that it will cause me cancer.

How Corporations Try to Avoid Taking Responsibility

John: So in terms of the way that companies approach their corporate responsibility in mesothelioma cases changing over the years, you mentioned that now you’re seeing more and more companies, the companies that do sort of fight the issue and say, no, our product doesn’t contain asbestos, or whatever you said.

Previously, they would maybe admit that, yeah, our products did contain it. Now you’re saying they’re even going so far as to fund sort of fake science to try to prove that it doesn’t contain asbestos and almost going overboard to try to go the other direction. Are there other ways that you see that things have changed over the years in terms of the way that companies approach their responsibility?

Paul: I think that, again, a lot of companies take polar opposite views of how they should deal with things. And we’ll see some companies that will fess up and say, yeah, if we knew then what we know today, there’s not a chance we would’ve put this product on the market. We would’ve provided warnings. Maybe it was in a setting where their employees used asbestos products. We would’ve taken more safeguards, we would’ve done more.

And whether that’s genuine or not, it’s impossible to say, but they’re certainly saying the right things. And the way they treat litigation at least gives me some indication that that’s how they feel. There are other companies that literally go out of their way to try to recreate history, and they try to recreate it in a number of ways. And we mention the science. And the science is really interesting because up until probably 2000, 2005, I mean, there was no controversy about asbestos causing disease. There was none. And these are decades old studies.

What was also no question about is that most companies stopped making asbestos-containing products long before 2000. And certainly by 2000, and again, without naming any names in particular, you’ve got brake manufacturers who at the very latest stop manufacturing asbestos containing brakes in around 2000, 2001. Well then fast-forward to 2015, 2020, those same brake manufacturers are paying for studies that the ultimate conclusions are “you couldn’t get enough exposure to this product either in its new unaltered state or in the kind of consumed state, there’s no way you could get enough exposure to get disease.”

And I understand why they would do those things from a litigation standpoint. There is no reason to fund those studies from a health-based standpoint or from an industry standpoint because you’re not making the product anymore. You’re literally not making the product. So you’re not saving anybody today by warning them or providing any information whatsoever about a product that hasn’t been made for 20 years. So you have to come to the conclusion that those studies are being created for litigation, for the courts. So that-

John: Right. For the sole purpose of trying to avoid their responsibility?

How Corporations Fund Research About Mesothelioma

Paul: Absolutely. Yeah. And we’ve seen some defendants were a lot more savvy back in the 60s and 70s, and I think they kind of foreshadowed that they would end up in this litigation. And so they started creating some of these defenses back in even those days and started littering here and there, the medical and scientific literature.

And then as technology has really taken off, I mean, it’s just so much easier. I mean, there are litigation expert companies, for lack of a better term, I mean big corporations, and you’ll have an arm that’ll be the research and the publication arm, and then you’ll have an arm that’ll be the testifying arm. And they try not to cross them over too much so that there can be some, I guess, indicia of lack of bias or being unbiased.

John: An appearance that they’re separate entities and that they’re not related to each other.

Paul: That’s right. And so it’s really changed a lot. I’ve been doing this for 21 years now, my partner’s been doing this for more than that, and there were just a lot of things that we took for granted based on science. And we see it in a lot of different contexts now that there’s been a rejection of conventional science and conventional consensus.

And now it makes it to the point where you have to have somebody that’s been doing this for a long time because we have such access to transcripts from 25 years ago where an expert said in 1998, this product under certain circumstances could cause mesothelioma. And then in 2023, they write a report and say it can’t, there’s no circumstance. And so we have access to information where we can call them on it and say, well, that’s not what you said.

And they can come up with any reason they want. They can say, oh, I’ve done more research, I’ve read more, but it doesn’t look good when the basis for your change happens to coincide with you starting to work for defense companies. You are starting to make more money than what you did when you said something else years ago. But corporate responsibility to me, it’s kind of a hot button topic in that companies don’t really change who they are for the most part.

If they were a fighter and they were willing to bury things back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, they are not willing to concede these things in the 21st century, and they’re never going to agree. And that’s why the court system exists. That’s why we do what we do. Because if they won’t accept responsibility, then we have to get a jury to make them responsible.

Government Regulations About Corporate Responsibility

John: Right. Well, what do you think the role of government regulations is in terms of ensuring that companies are held accountable for their actions regarding asbestos exposure?

Paul: So government regulations have been interesting as well. It really started with state governments. You’ve heard, I’m sure most of our listeners have heard, OSHA, EPA. Those are federal agencies. OSHA, for example, didn’t really exist until 1971. The OSHA emergency standard was enacted for asbestos in December of 1971, and then the official standard became official in 1972 and exists today. And those standards have changed over the years, but it was really state governments that began to regulate things like asbestos.

Going back into the 1930s, a lot of states had workers’ compensation laws that they called occupational disease acts that regulated the amount of exposure that people could have in the workplace to asbestos, silica, benzene, a wide variety of chemicals. Then you fast-forward into the 1940s and 50s, a lot of state governments impose what are called threshold limit values for exposure to asbestos and other things.

Back in those days, it was measured in something called particles per cubic foot. So the threshold limit value for asbestos in most states in the United States prior to 1971 was 5 million particles per cubic foot. Now you’re probably sitting there thinking as well as many people would, that sounds like an awful lot of asbestos. That sounds like an incredible amount of asbestos. 5 million particles per cubic foot of asbestos sounds like you could be exposed to a lot of it.

I wish I had it with me right now to show, but we had an expert years ago measure 5 million particles per cubic foot and put it into a vial. So imagine a vial the size of an average writing pen, and probably only a couple, maybe an inch of that vial would comprise 5 million particles per cubic foot of asbestos. So that’s not a lot. And those were the workplace standards for many years until 1971.

OSHA Started Regulating Asbestos Exposure in the 1970s

And then in 1971, OSHA came along and said, we’re really seeing a prevalence of workers dying from cancer, asbestosis, all kinds of cancers, but particularly mesothelioma, and we need to regulate this. But the problem is industry fought it, and employers had been using asbestos for decades. They weren’t taking measurements, they weren’t really… State governments, while they had the standard, they weren’t coming into the plants and taking measurements, they weren’t issuing citations.

So really it was kind of meatless regulations that were occurring. So when OSHA came in, and I think OSHA did mean business and said, we’re going to regulate this, but industry wasn’t ready to just quit cold turkey. They couldn’t do it. And standard asbestos products like insulation, which was huge back in those days… It was in every manufacturing plant built before 1972, any Powerhouse built before 1972.

And it’s just a horrible friable material. I mean that if you touch it with your hand, it would crumble immediately. It would produce all kinds of dust. So the industry negotiated with OSHA on those standards. And the initial emergency standard was 12 fibers per cubic centimeter. That’s about what that 5 million particles per cubic foot amounted to. But that’s a lot of asbestos. 12 fibers per CC is really a lot of asbestos is horribly unsafe.

So that was a standard that was going to be in place for six months. And then December, it was lowered… Oh, I’m sorry. In June of ’72, it was lowered to five fibers per CC, and that’s over an eight-hour time weighted average. So over the course of an eight-hour day per the regulation, you could have five fibers per CC of exposure over the course of your day, and that was acceptable per the regulation. So the reason why I’m giving this history is the answer, the question is the regulations were well intended, but they didn’t work because it was too much asbestos.

John: They didn’t go far enough.

Allowable Levels of Work-Related Asbestos Exposure

Paul: Absolutely. At five fibers per CC, dozens of people per thousand workers were going to get mesothelioma. So they already knew in 1972 that they were going to automatically by operation of… they were going to reduce that level to two fibers per CC in 1976. Okay, that’s great. We’re going to lower it. That was going to give industry four years to eliminate asbestos or develop better industrial hygiene methods in order to reduce the exposure.

Again, the problem is that the two fibers per CC is way too high, and it was never going to prevent people from getting mesothelioma. Ultimately, in 1986, it was reduced to 0.2, and then in 1994, it was reduced to 0.1 fiber per cc, and that’s basically about as low as what they could regulate because it’s hard to measure at those levels, and it would be very, very hard to measure and determine compliance below 0.1.

However, in 1986, when OSHA reduced the levels to 0.2, OSHA said, even at this level, there’s going to be a statistically significant number of people who are still going to develop mesothelioma from workplace exposure. So OSHA never said at any point in time that if you keep people at these levels that they’re not going to get disease.

John: That this is a safe level, right?

No Level of Asbestos Exposure Is Safe

Paul: That’s absolutely right. And if you go to OSHA right now, if you go to their website, if you read papers from OSHA, OSHA will still say today, the only safe level of exposure to asbestos is zero, no exposure. There is no safe level. The problem that we face as lawyers and the problems that our clients face is the defendants want to use OSHA as a sword instead of a shield. And they frequently go to courts, go to judges, go to juries, and they say, look, we had every reason to believe that the OSHA level was safe, that if we kept levels below those, that people wouldn’t get sick, and that was safe.

And our job is to point out the numerous things that not only OSHA said, but also it was all throughout the medical and scientific literature as well as by the way, corporate documents, many of our defendants agree in 1976 that the OSHA limits weren’t safe. But today, when they have lawyers representing them, the lawyers say, we had every reason to believe that if we followed the OSHA regulations, we would be safe. And that’s not the case.

And the literature certainly did not support that notion. It’s just that’s what the government could do, and the government had to negotiate heavily to get to that point in order to regulate it at all. And sadly, the government is still in that position today with a lot of things. I’ve talked about talc today and the FDA doesn’t regulate talc. Talc comes within the FDA’s jurisdiction, but the FDA doesn’t test talc. It hasn’t imposed any exposure limits on talc. All it says is there shouldn’t be asbestos in talc, but it really doesn’t do anything to make any determinations.

So government regulations are always a good thing, always a good thing. But government regulations have limitations. And at the end of the day, satisfying government regulations does not protect everyone. Will it reduce the number of people who get cancer and has it reduced that number? Absolutely. I mean, if OSHA hadn’t been enacted, my goodness, there would be so many more people that would’ve died of asbestos cancers. It would be devastating to see how many people would’ve died.

But government regulations aren’t the sole answer, and they haven’t eradicated it. The only thing that would eradicate these cancers is for companies to say, We’re done. We’re never going to manufacture any product with any type of asbestos, no matter how small we think the exposure would be. It’s guaranteed that if you make something with asbestos in 20 years, somebody’s going to get cancer from it.

Contact Satterley & Kelley to Learn More

John: Absolutely. All right. Well, that’s really great information, Paul. Thanks again for speaking with me today.

Paul: Oh, thanks John. I appreciate it.

John Maher: And for more information about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, visit the law firm of Satterley & Kelley at satterleylaw.com or call 855-385-9532.

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The Legal Process of Filing a Mesothelioma Lawsuit (Podcast)

June 23, 2023/in Mesothelioma, Podcasts/by Paul Kelley

Listen as Paul Kelley talks with John Maher about mesothelioma lawsuits. He explains what you need to do to get started, and then, he outlines the stages and challenges of these types of lawsuits.

John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher. I’m here today with Paul Kelley. Paul is a partner with the Kentucky Personal Injury Law Firm Satterley & Kelley, which has over 30 years of collective experience in handling cases involving mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. Today, we’re talking about the legal process of filing a mesothelioma lawsuit. Welcome, Paul.

Paul Kelley: Hey, John. How are you doing today?

Step One: Find an Attorney

John: Good, thanks. So Paul, what are the first steps that someone who’s been diagnosed with mesothelioma should take if they’re considering filing a lawsuit against their former employer or the manufacturer of asbestos containing products that they may have been exposed to?

Paul: Sure, John. I think, obviously, trying to find a lawyer is the first step. And there are a lot of options out there, and I strongly encourage people to conduct research. The internet is a wonderful thing, because it can certainly give you a lot of options, but it’s also important to be able to assess those options. And one of the most critical criteria, I think, is where the lawyer is located relative to where you are and where you think your case would be.

So for example, if you’re in Louisville, Kentucky, which is where I’m sitting right now, you should strongly consider contacting an attorney from that particular area, because that person’s likely to know the lay of the land, know the judges, know Kentucky law, know how jury instructions work, and all those sorts of things. But that having been said, there’s a lot of options out there, and conducting research is critically important. So certainly, getting comfortable with a lawyer that you’re going to hire is by far probably the most important thing that you can do. You want to feel good about the person that you’ve retained.

Step Two: Start Gathering Information

Beyond that, the next step is to start assembling the information. A lot of the good cases come down to the testimony, what the evidence is, what was the person exposed to? Where did they work? What were the various products that they were exposed to? Can they name the manufacturers of those products? Can they name distributors of those products? Can they give good detail as to how those products were used? What were the products used for? So for example, if it was an insulation product, what was it used to insulate? If it was a raw asbestos material, what was it used to make?

I have a lot of interviews with potential clients about these sorts of things, and lots of times, the exposures occurred 40 years ago, so they can’t necessarily think of all those things just straight out of the box without really taking some time and effort and energy to think about it. But that’s really the biggest difference between a successful case and an unsuccessful case. If you can’t provide the details, or if there’s not somebody that can provide the details of what you were exposed to and how you were exposed to it, then most cases aren’t going to go particularly far. I don’t expect people to be able to have that kind of knowledge the second that they’re diagnosed with mesothelioma and say, “Hey, I want to do something.” It’s going to take some work between the two of us to get to that point.

One of the biggest problems, John, is that a lot of folks didn’t know that they were exposed to asbestos when they were working with it. And that’s not uncommon. And the reason why it’s not uncommon is because the manufacturers of products didn’t advertise, didn’t make people aware that they were exposed, that there was asbestos in their product, and that they were exposing people to it.

So another important point that I make is, if we kind of talk about the chronology of events, you have somebody that had various jobs during the course of their life. Most people are exposed occupationally. Some people are exposed in the home to a consumer product. Some people are exposed in the home, because their spouse worked with asbestos products. Some people bought a product that they used in some way and were exposed.

Asbestos has this really lengthy latency period. And what that means is it takes at least 10 years, but usually a lot longer from the time of exposure until the time of the diagnosis. So there’s going to be this huge period of time where people aren’t going to think about this at all. I mean, they weren’t really aware at the time that there was a problem. They lived their life, they worked hard for their family and did all the things that they do. And then there comes the point of diagnosis. And unfortunately, the point of diagnosis is going to be one of the bleakest periods of time in anybody’s life.

Mesothelioma is a devastating cancer. Most people are going to die from it in less than two years from when they’re diagnosed. So they have to process that information first and, of course, deal with medically what needs to be done in order to prolong their life as long as possible.

Critical Tip: Don’t Speculate to the Doctor About Where You Were Exposed

Then the questions start coming. And usually, it doesn’t start with lawyers, it starts with the doctors. The doctors say, “Well, you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Do you have any idea where you were exposed to asbestos?” And this is a common problem, and I hate to bring it up, but I think it’s important for people to know, the very worst thing that you can do is to guess. It’s the absolute worst thing that you can do.

Doctors are fantastic. The doctors that treat mesothelioma are fantastic. They are trained to record everything that they’re told, and if it’s important enough for them to ask, they’re probably going to report in some way in their medical record as to what you said the exposure was. What I see a lot is people don’t have the slightest idea, and when they’re asked that question, they start to guess. They’re like, “Oh, I lived in an old house when I was a kid.”

John: Right.

Paul: So what? You lived in an old house. I mean, what my adversaries say routinely is, “Just because asbestos is present somewhere doesn’t mean that there was an exposure to the product.” So speculating that you lived in an old house that could have had asbestos, that’s not particularly helpful to anything.

Now, some folks know that they were brake mechanics, and they learned at some point in time that brakes had asbestos, and they say, “Oh, yeah, I mean, I did thousands of brake jobs during the course of my life.” That makes perfect sense.

John: Right.

Paul: Because they know that. So I always tell folks, don’t jump to any conclusions as to where or how you might have been exposed if you don’t know. If you know, you know, and you should certainly tell anybody and everybody how you think you were exposed. But sometimes it’s not that easy.

John: Right.

Paul: And for example, you and I have talked in other settings about the fact that a lot of people didn’t know that brakes contain asbestos, and they did thousands of them. They didn’t know. So they go to their doctors, and their doctor says, “Where do you think you might have been exposed to asbestos?” “I don’t know.” And the doctors, at the end of the day, it’s not really critical to how they’re going to treat you if you were exposed in any particular way.

John: Right. One exposure is the same as another exposure, basically.

Paul: In terms of what they’re doing, absolutely.

John: Yeah.

Paul: I mean, ultimately, their goal is to determine a course of treatment that’s appropriate. But they always ask, because they like to know if they can.

John: Right.

Paul: And maybe in some way, for example, if you’re still being exposed, they want to be able to tell you, “Stop.”

John: Right.

Step Three: Work With Your Attorney to Identify Exposures

Paul: It’s probably not going to do anything to make your situation better, but stop. Stop getting the exposure. But for the most part, the doctors don’t particularly care how you were exposed in terms of how they were going to treat.

My job is to figure out all those exposures. My job is to go through every aspect of your life. And what I do in every case is, when I meet with somebody brand new, after we get to know who they are and understand their situation and answer their questions about medical treatment and those sorts of things, we get into the weeds.

And I want to find out what their parents did for a living. I want to find out what their siblings did for a living. I want to find out what their spouses did. I want to find out what their hobbies are. And when we assemble all of the answers to those questions, oftentimes, we conclude where we expected to, which is the person was a brake mechanic, and I was pretty certain that that was what their exposure was going to be. And sometimes we find out that their father was an insulator for 35 years and brought asbestos contaminated clothing home and exposed their child or their spouse, and they had an exposure in that way.

Critical Tip: Focus on Your Medical Treatment and Let the Lawyer Guide the Case

So thinking back as to how you think you were exposed, your life activities, if you worked in an occupational setting, you want to be able to identify all the coworkers you can, and having that stuff ready for the first time that you meet with a lawyer is hugely helpful. If you don’t have it, that’s fine. We’ll get there. We’ll figure it all out. It’s what I tell everybody, “When you’re diagnosed with this cancer, your job is to focus on cancer and treatment and doing the things you can do to feel better. Our job is to get the evidence. But the more help that you can provide us to do that, the more successful that we will be for you.”

John: Right. So once you’re past that sort of initial discovery phase and you’ve sort of figured out where the likely exposure to asbestos was, how else does a lawyer typically guide a client through the legal system?

Paul: Well, I mean, pretty much we are the client’s sole friend, we’re the client’s ambassador, if you will. Typically speaking, the clients don’t talk to the judge, they don’t talk to the other attorneys, except in a deposition setting. We’re the conduit for all of the information that’s going to be provided to the defendants, and we are the gatherer of the evidence.

And when I get hired for a case, there are kind of two different paths that we can follow. Either it’s an exposure, whether it’s a product or a location that I’m very familiar with and I already have a treasure chest of information and we can hit the ground running. Sometimes that’s not the case. Sometimes I have to beat the pavement and try to gather evidence before we can even get to the point where we file a lawsuit.

And our goal is to always move quickly for a lot of different reasons. The biggest being that, unfortunately, our clients won’t live probably very long, and we went to try to get them their trial and their day in court as quickly as we possibly can. The other reason is the system is slow. The quicker we can get a case filed, regardless of the situation, the quicker we’ll get it to trial.

But our job is basically to take the information that our clients provide and collect other evidence and put it all together and convince a judge and jury that our client has been harmed wrongfully, lots of times maliciously, by companies that just didn’t care enough to take any precautions and to protect innocent people who are just showing up every day, trying to do an honest day’s work. But that’s our job. And obviously, there’s a lot of details that aren’t interesting enough for me to talk about in a podcast. But I spend 10 hours a day, every day, working for a variety of people and just wading through the paperwork, the discovery, the games, and all the things that we have to deal with in order to get our cases, get our clients’ cases to trial and let them have their day in court.

Expect The Case to Last at Least a Couple of Years

John: Yeah. How long does a mesothelioma lawsuit process typically take? What should clients expect in terms of timelines and potential outcomes?

Paul: Unfortunately, John, in today’s day and age, a couple years is the minimum period of time. We try like heck to get cases to trial as quickly as possible. There are certain limitations that we have no control over. I mean, the courts, we are still trying to catch up from COVID, and there is still a huge backlog of criminal cases and civil cases. So that right there can slow the process down.

Lots of times when I file a case, there are numerous defendants, anywhere from five to 45. And when you have that many defendants, you have a lot of lawyers, you have a lot of schedules.

So from filing date to trial, I would say you can count on two years. It can take longer if there are appeals, continuances, things like that. But if I were giving folks an average, I would say about two years. And it seems like a long time, and two years is a long time, I mean, it’s a long time for anything, but it goes by fast. There’s a lot of work to be done, and we get it done during that period of time. And the big fight we have is the defendant’s not wanting to do things so that they can try to delay the case. So we just put our head down and work hard to do everything we can do to get the case to trial.

And typically speaking, the court system will hold the defendant’s feet to the fire and say, “We’ve got to be able to try this case within a year and a half or two years of the plaintiff filing it.” I mean, unless there’s a reason, a good reason not to. And I think our court system and our judges work very hard to make sure that both sides have a fair opportunity to work up their case and get it to trial. But two years is a lot longer than I wish. I wish I could get it to trial. Most cases, I could probably try six months, nine months from the date that I file it. I mean, I would have it ready to go and could do it. But we have a lot of things.

John: Yeah. If you could get the day in court, you’d be able to do it in six or nine months.

Paul: Absolutely.

Stages of a Mesothelioma Lawsuit

John: Right. Can you walk us through the various stages of a mesothelioma lawsuit, from filing that initial complaint to reaching a settlement, or perhaps going to trial?

Filing the Complaint

Paul: Yeah, absolutely. So typically speaking, we file the complaint. The complaint is just, basically, a legal document that gives the defendants an idea of what the case is against them. We have, what we call in Kentucky, notice pleadings, so we don’t have to put a lot of information into a complaint. The defendants get 20 days after they’re served with a complaint to file an answer.

Asking and Answering Questions With the Defence

And from that point, there’s about six months, where the primary activities are answering and propounding written questions to the other side. So they’ll send questions to us, we’ll send questions to them. And the purpose of those questions is to kind of get a little bit more information than what we had before the case was filed. And obviously, the defendants didn’t know the case was coming, so it’s for them to get more information about what the case is about.

Preserving the Client’s Testimony

Also, during that six month period of time, I want to be able to take the plaintiff, my client’s deposition. I want to put them on videotape and present the testimony as if they were there in court. The goal is they will be there in court when the case gets tried. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is several of our clients may not make it to trial, and we want to be able to preserve their testimony and make sure that in some way they’re able to look the jury in the eye and tell the jury what happened to them.

Taking Depositions From Defendants and Witnesses

And then at some point, and I’m, obviously, going on general averages, there’s no hard and fast rule that it’s six months or nine months, but at some point in that six to nine month range, I want to start taking depositions of the defendants. Sometimes it’s a defendant that I’ve deposed before, so I really want to refine and hone in on something that hasn’t been covered before, or make sure that evidence is crystal clear as to what their responsibility is for causing our client’s disease.

Sometimes it’s defendants that we’re not as familiar with, and we’re in more of a discovery phase where we’re trying to gather information and also get some admissions as to what products they made, the asbestos content, and those sorts of things.

Then there would be witness depositions, like our client’s coworkers, people that will corroborate what our client said. Sometimes our clients have passed before we get their deposition. So a lot of times, the evidence has to come in through coworkers. So identifying and putting those coworkers up.

Gathering Expert Opinions

And then we get to the expert phase. We hire experts, who will evaluate the exposures and come to opinions concerning the cause of the disease. Maybe it’s an industrial hygienist that’ll give opinions concerning the levels of exposure. And then the defendants will put up their experts as well, who, a hundred percent of the time, say that their product didn’t… Their client didn’t cause the disease.

Filing the Evidentiary Practice

Once that part of it’s closed, we’re fairly well ready for trial. There are some other things that happen. The defendants always file something called a motion for summary judgment. It’s a legal mechanism that’s essentially a request to the court to dismiss them from the case, because there’s not enough evidence against them. It doesn’t matter how good my evidence is against the defendant. They file that motion every case. And then there’s evidentiary practice. We both file motions to say, “This evidence should come out,” for whatever reason. It’s not relevant, it’s too prejudicial, whatever the situation is.

Settling the Case or Moving Forward With the Trial

Once a court rules on that, then it’s trial time. And at that point, when the judge says, “Defendant, I’m denying summary judgment. You have two options at this point. You try this case, or you settle with the plaintiff.” Most cases do settle. I’d say we probably try no more than three or four a year, sometimes not even that many, because most cases do settle. But lots of times, they will not settle until the defendants are staring down the barrel of a trial, and they know that the only way they’re getting out of this case is to finally, finally, accept some responsibility for causing the plaintiff’s injury.

Challenges During Mesothelioma Lawsuits

John: Okay. What are some of the biggest challenges that clients might face during the Mesothelioma lawsuit process? And how can they prepare themselves for that?

Paul: Well, I personally think the biggest obstacle that I think is unique to everybody, except for lawyers, is the timing. We just talked a moment ago that it takes a couple years to get from diagnosis, filing the trial. That’s foreign to a lot of folks. Why does it take so long? Too many people have watched attorney shows on TV, where the crime happens on Monday, and the trial happens the next week.

John: Right.

The Length of the Process

Paul: So it’s difficult for people to deal with the time factor of it. And of course, as I’ve mentioned, mesothelioma patients have other problems. They want to be able to live to be at their trial. So that, emotionally, can be difficult on people. This is what I tell everybody from that standpoint, you have to, again, focus on you.

The legal process is the wonderful thing in the United States, the jury system, and the Seventh Amendment are the foundation of what I think a civilized society should be. It’s not perfect. Nothing’s perfect. The more time that we have to prepare a case, the better it’s going to be for them. So while, yes, I could try a case in six or nine months, and in most instances for one of my mesothelioma clients, that’s what I’d like to do. But if I can’t try that case in six or nine months and it takes two years to do, that’s going to give me a lot more time to prepare and do a better job for them than if we tried the case in six or nine months.

Now, somebody might say, “Well, gosh, doesn’t that give the defendants more time?” It does, but I promise you, except for in extremely rare circumstances, they don’t utilize that time the same way we do. They don’t… The case isn’t as personal to them as it is to me. They, lots of times, represent that defendant in dozens of cases. I represent dozens of clients, but I represent one client for one case.

And it’s just different for us in how we prepare and utilize the time and the amount of years that go by. The only way that really benefits the defendant is they don’t have to pay. I’m sure you’ve heard the term to delay is not to pay. Well, their biggest strength is being able to delay a case. But their lawyers aren’t necessarily using that time the same way I am, and they’re not obsessing over the case the same way I am. Because I have one shot for this client, I mean, and I want to be as successful as we possibly can.

The Adversarial Nature of the Process

The other obstacle, I think, is just most of my people, clients, and anybody that’s a normal person that’s involved in the legal process, it gets frustrating. You want to be a nice person. You want to be the person that you always are. When you go into these depositions, and you’ve got 10 lawyers that are on the other side, and your instinct is to be who you are. And most people are nice people, they’re polite, they’re pleasant. They don’t want to think that people have ulterior motives. They don’t want to think that people are trying to get them, so to speak.

But the legal process is adversarial, and that’s exactly what’s happening on the other side of the table. And I think sometimes folks get a little flustered by the adversarial nature of the process. They get a little flustered by aggressive lawyers that may be not completely respectful of them during the deposition. They get frustrated with lawyers that might think that they’re not telling the truth, or being honest, or fully honest with them.

And what I tell everybody is, “Look, you can’t worry about what the person across the table thinks about you, or thinks about your case. The good news is our adversary’s not the decision maker, the jury is. And it’s what the jury thinks. And there comes a time where the jury doesn’t believe us either. But they usually do, and I think they will, because you tell the truth, you give the facts the best way you can, then justice will prevail in some way. But it’s like everything with life, you’re not going to make everybody happy. And you’re sure as heck not going to make the person asking you questions across the table happy when you keep identifying their client and you keep saying that their client exposed you to heavy levels of asbestos. Yeah, they’re going to get aggressive, they’re going to challenge you.”

John: Right.

Paul: “And when that happens, it means that you’ve hurt them. So don’t worry about those things.” But it’s hard to tell a nice person not to be nice.

John: Right. Right.

Paul: And that’s a challenge. But people generally get it, and they understand the process. And with everything in the legal system, you are who you are and you’re not going to change yourself, because you’re testifying in court, or in a deposition. You’re going to be the person you are. And quite frankly, those lawyers on the other side, they’re going to be who they are too. And we just have to let that all play out, and all you can control is what you can control.

Contact Satterley & Kelley If You Need Help

John: All right. Yeah. Well, that’s really great advice, great information, Paul. Thanks, again, for speaking with me today.

Paul: Thanks, John. I appreciate it.

John: And for more information about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, visit the law firm of Satterley & Kelley at satterleylaw.com, or call (855) 385-9532.

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Is Liability for a Dog Bite Covered by a Homeowner’s Insurance Policy?

June 21, 2023/in Dog Bites/by Paul Kelley

You’re probably covered if a dog bite caused an injury, and the owner has personal liability coverage through a homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy. But there’s no guarantee because insurers are excluding coverage for specific breeds.

Dogs can inflict severe physical and psychological wounds. If a dog attacked you or a family member and you want to know your legal rights to compensation, call Satterley & Kelley, PLLC, today at 855-385-9532.

Insurers Paid More Than $1.1 Billion in Dog Bite-Related Claims Last Year

Not only do insurers pay dog bit claims, but they also pay a lot of money. According to State Farm and the Insurance Information Institute:

Injuries caused by dogs cost homeowner insurers more than $1.136 billion in 2022
Just State Farm paid more than $210 million for 3,285 dog bite and injury claims last year
Dog bite claims nationwide declined slightly from 17,981 in 2021 to 17,583 in 2022

Insurance claims can only be made if the owner, or another party responsible for the dog and the bite, has insurance. You can’t make a claim if the dog is a stray or you can’t find the owner.

If the dog’s owner lives in an apartment, they may have renter’s coverage that may pay your claim. If we can show that the landlord’s negligent actions played a role in your bite, we may be able to file a claim with their insurer.

There’s no requirement that a dog owner have insurance for them to be sued for their dog’s attack. But as with all personal injury claims, a potential defendant must have sufficient resources to make starting a lawsuit worthwhile. Most of the time, if a defendant lacks insurance and has few assets, the costs of legal action in money, time, and energy isn’t worth it.

Dog Bites and Insurance

Personal liability and medical payments coverage on the dog owner’s homeowner’s insurance policy may pay you compensation for your injuries, medical bills, and out-of-pocket costs. It should also pay for the insured’s legal defense.

Some insurance carriers don’t cover dog breeds considered potentially dangerous. That includes many breeds, but Pit Bulls, Mastiffs, and Rottweilers are commonly on these lists. Insurance may also protect them but charge the owner a higher premium. Other companies may charge more if the homeowner has a dog, no matter the breed.

If there’s a dog in the home, the owner may also need to fill out an insurance company questionnaire about the dog’s history to determine whether there’ll be coverage and, if so, at what cost.

A dog bite may also be covered if the owner has an umbrella liability coverage, which could cover a wide range of insurance claims.

Potential Insurance Problems

An insurance claim for harm suffered due to a dog may be denied because of mistakes or dishonesty by the owner.

When buying insurance, many homeowners focus on price, not on what a policy covers. A homeowner may purchase coverage knowing their dog’s breed won’t be covered because they don’t think the dog will bite anyone or don’t want to pay more.

A homeowner may also lie when buying insurance and deny owning a dog. They may also forget about an exclusion or the need to tell the carrier they own a dog if months pass after they buy the policy and they buy or adopt a dog.

Don’t let the fact that there might be problems with insurance coverage stop you from seeking the compensation you deserve. We can discuss your injuries with you, how Kentucky law may apply, and address insurance coverage problems if and when they arise.

Have You or a Loved One Been Severely Bitten by a Dog?

Kentucky law, with some restrictions, makes a dog owner strictly liable for the bite it inflicts. Depending on the circumstances, if someone else, like a pet sitter or walker, acted negligently and contributed to the problem, they may also face liability.

If a dog injures you or a family member, call our office in Louisville toll-free at 855-385-9532 to learn more about your rights. You may also schedule your free initial consultation by completing our contact form.

What is Pleural Thickening?

June 20, 2023/in Mesothelioma/by Paul Kelley

Pleural thickening is a change in the lung’s lining (called the pleura), which may be a symptom of asbestos exposure and an asbestos-related cancer, pleural mesothelioma. Though getting this diagnosis is not good, it doesn’t necessarily mean your condition will progress to a fatal disease like mesothelioma.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fiber used in thousands of products in construction, manufacturing, and other industries because of its heat, fire, and electricity resistance. It was also widely available, cheap, and durable.

Asbestos fibers are also highly toxic and a potent cancer-causing substance. One malignancy it causes is pleural mesothelioma, a treatable but incurable cancer of the pleura. Asbestos use in the US largely stopped in the late 1970s, but it’s still used for limited purposes today.

What Causes Pleural Thickening?

Diffuse (or widespread) pleural thickening is where extensive, often smooth scarring, thickens large parts of the pleural membrane. Usually, the pleura is smooth, allowing the lungs to expand and contract as we breathe. However, in some cases, the pleura can become thickened, which can cause a range of symptoms and complications.

Pleural thickening can be caused by asbestos fibers lodged in the pleura and cause inflammation, leading to the development of scar tissue over time. This scar tissue can cause the pleura to thicken and become stiff, making it difficult for the lungs to expand and contract as we breathe.

There are several other potential causes of pleural thickening, including silica exposure, infections, autoimmune disorders, and certain types of cancer. Symptoms vary depending on the thickening’s cause and extent. Some with pleural thickening may have no symptoms, while others may experience chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing, or fatigue.

What are Pleural Thickening Symptoms?

Symptoms may take years or even decades to develop after asbestos exposure. Pleural thickening may also cause pleural effusions, a fluid buildup between the pleura and the lung. This can worsen other symptoms and lead to complications such as pneumonia or lung collapse.

Diagnosing pleural thickening and determining if it’s asbestos-related typically involves reviewing your medical history, physical examination, imaging tests such as X-rays or CT scans, and a biopsy of the affected tissue.

How is Pleural Thickening Treated?

Treatment for pleural thickening caused by asbestos exposure depends on the severity and the extent of symptoms. If it’s a mild case, there may not be any treatment. If the thickening is causing significant symptoms or complications, pulmonary rehabilitation may improve the situation and your quality of life. A team of specialists would develop a custom plan based on your needs.

If you are experiencing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or coughing, consult a healthcare provider to determine the underlying cause and appropriate treatment options. This is especially true if you have a history of asbestos exposure.

Your Local Mesothelioma Law Firm

If you or a loved one recently received a mesothelioma diagnosis, or you work at a site known for asbestos exposure and are concerned about developing mesothelioma, you should understand your rights to compensation. Our experienced asbestos injury lawyers can discuss your situation with you and help you recover damages to cover your medical expenses, lost wages, and the pain and suffering you’ve endured.

To schedule a free initial consultation at our Louisville office, call us toll-free at 855-385-9532 or complete our contact form today.

What is Negligence in Personal Injury Law?

June 19, 2023/in Personal Injury/by Paul Kelley

Negligence is a legal theory forming the basis of most personal injury claims. Just because there was an accident and you were injured doesn’t mean you’re entitled to compensation for the harm you suffer. You must show the other party’s at fault because they intentionally hurt you or made mistakes that qualify as negligence.

Insurance companies offer liability coverage to their policyholders. They will provide legal representation and pay for settlements or jury verdicts if a claim or lawsuit is filed and their insured caused your injury due to their negligence.

Given the facts we find during our investigation and Kentucky laws, we decide if your injuries were due to a party’s negligence. Your injuries may be clear and well-documented, but you don’t have a case without evidence that the other party’s negligence caused them.

We also represent victims of intentional injuries, but those cases are relatively rare. Insurance policies won’t cover harm caused on purpose, and we need to know that the other party has enough assets to make a lawsuit worthwhile.

What are the Elements of Negligence?

To be successful, the negligence legal theory requires you, the plaintiff, and the party filing the lawsuit, to establish different factual and legal elements by a preponderance of the evidence (it’s more likely than not that what you allege is true). You’ll need to show:

Because of the relationship between you and the defendant (the party sued), they owed you a legal obligation or duty to do or not do something given the situation
The defendant breached that duty or failed that obligation
That breach or failure is the legal (or proximate) and factual cause of the accident
The accident caused you harm
Under Kentucky law, the defendant must pay you damages (a measurement of your injury in dollars)

Some of these elements may be more or less difficult to prove, depending on the situation.

How Would This Play Out in a Case?

That relationship could be that you’re:

A customer in their store
A fellow driver on the same road or highway

Their legal duty may be to:

Maintain a reasonably safe store environment and be on the lookout for possible dangers
Drive reasonably safely in a reasonably safe vehicle

Their breach of this duty may be:

Not to clean liquids off floors that can make them slippery or have uneven stairs that can cause people to trip
Driving while distracted, fatigued, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, faster than the speed limit, or by ignoring stop signs and lights

The accident caused by this breach could be:

You slipped on a floor or fell down stairs
The other vehicle collided with you at an intersection

Your injuries could be physical, emotional, psychological, or financial. They happened in the past and are expected to continue in the future:

You broke bones, suffered organ damage, or traumatic brain injuries
Memories of the vehicle accident keep you awake at night
You’re depressed because permanent injuries will limit you for the rest of your life
Your ability to earn an income is decreased, and you face substantial bills for medical treatment and rehabilitation

Damages are an attempt to put a dollar value on this past and future harm. They are based on medical bills, percentage of disability, decreased paychecks, and severity of the pain and suffering you endure.

We would tie all this together and argue to the court, or convince the insurance company through negotiation, that given:

The evidence
State common law (developed through court cases over the years) and statutory laws
Which holds accountable people who acted like the defendant and inflicted injuries on people like you
The defendant’s required to compensate you for your damages

Nearly all cases settle, so all these elements must be shown to the insurance company. We could file a lawsuit and lay out your case to a jury if they’re not reasonable during negotiations. They would decide if the defendant acted negligently, if that caused your injuries, and if so, how much damages they should pay you.

What is Comparative Negligence?

Not everyone drives perfectly all the time. Many accidents are partially caused by the parties involved. When you shop, you may not be focused on what’s in front of you while you walk through a store.

Kentucky is a comparative negligence state. Each party is assessed a share of the crash’s cause. The fact that you’re partly to blame doesn’t prevent you from seeking compensation for your damages. But that percentage of fault is deducted from the damages you would’ve received if others were totally to blame.

Speak To A Satterley & Kelley, PLLC Personal Injury Attorney Today

If someone else’s negligent actions caused injuries to you or a loved one, Satterley & Kelley PLLC lawyers are here to protect your interests and legal rights to compensation. Don’t deal with an insurance company and severe injuries by yourself.

Schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your case, call our Louisville office at 855-385-9532. You may also complete our contact form if it’s more convenient.

What are Peritoneal Effusions?

June 16, 2023/in Mesothelioma/by Paul Kelley

This is a condition where there’s extra fluid between the peritoneum layers (tissue that lines the abdomen and covers most abdominal organs). It’s a symptom of many diseases, including peritoneal mesothelioma, a fatal asbestos-related cancer of the lining of the abdominal cavity and organs. If you show symptoms, see a physician to learn what’s causing it and start treatment.

What is Peritoneal Mesothelioma?

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare peritoneum cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It’s caused by prior exposure to asbestos, a mineral fiber that’s harmful when inhaled or ingested. Peritoneal mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that’s often spread throughout the abdominal lining by the time it’s diagnosed.

Most with the condition are diagnosed in their 50s, and their asbestos exposure may have been decades earlier. Peritoneal mesothelioma is the second most common mesothelioma (behind pleural mesothelioma), but it’s only 10% to 20% of all mesothelioma diagnoses. Usually, less than a thousand new cases are diagnosed in the US annually.

The most common symptom is fluid build-up in the abdomen, known as peritoneal effusions. As fluid collects, your abdomen may grow and become painful. Other peritoneal mesothelioma symptoms include:

A painful mass in your pelvic area
Constipation or bowel obstruction
Nausea and vomiting
Fever and night sweats
Unexplained weight loss
Lost appetite

To get a diagnosis, you will probably undergo:

A physical examination
Abdominal X-rays and or CT scans
Cytopathology testing of fluid obtained through abdominal paracentesis (a needle is inserted into an affected area, and fluid is withdrawn)

If peritoneal mesothelioma is diagnosed, it will be one of three types:

· Wet: Ascites (a build-up of abdominal fluid) are present, and you feel minimal pain. You may also have nodules on your organs, and your intestines swell
Dry: You have no ascites, but you have large, painful tumors
Mixed: You have areas with peritoneal effusion plus dry, painful tumors

Most peritoneal effusions are caused by cirrhosis of the liver. In addition to peritoneal mesothelioma, other cancers that may cause them include:

Ovarian
Uterine
Breast
Colon
Lung
Liver
Pancreas

If you are diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm you’re suffering. Contact Satterley & Kelley, PLLC today to learn more.

What are Peritoneal Effusion Symptoms?

Fluid in the abdominal cavity normally lubricates the linings of organs. The amount of peritoneal fluid in a healthy body differs based on gender, overall health, and other factors. Symptoms may be:

Abdominal pain or swelling
Difficulty breathing
Chest pain
Nausea
Weight gain
Fatigue
Lost appetite

If you have these symptoms, seek medical attention.

How are Peritoneal Effusions Treated?

Problems with peritoneal effusions can be managed through treatment and cured if the underlying cause can be addressed. Peritoneal mesothelioma patients have the best overall survival rates of all mesothelioma patients, but the outlook isn’t as good for those with peritoneal effusions.

The average survival is 20 weeks after diagnosis for those with peritoneal effusion caused by all types of cancers. The prognosis varies from person to person. Peritoneal mesothelioma patients, on average, live a year after diagnosis. Due to treatment advances, patients live longer, with about half living five or more years.

If the cause of your peritoneal effusion is mesothelioma, palliative treatment can manage your symptoms, improve your quality of life, and lessen the pain you’ll experience. A common treatment is periodically draining off fluid. This can be done with a needle, or a permanent drainage catheter may be used if this is expected to be done repeatedly.

Call Us Today For A Free Mesothelioma Lawsuit Consultation

If you or someone you love suffers from peritoneal mesothelioma or another asbestos-related illness in Kentucky, call us toll-free at 855-385-9532. You may also complete our contact form to schedule a free initial consultation.

What is Mesothelioma and What are the Symptoms You May Experience?

June 15, 2023/in Mesothelioma/by Paul Kelley

Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that starts in the mesothelium, the thin layer of tissue that lines certain bodily cavities and covers many of your internal organs. There are several types of mesothelioma, since there are several places within the body that have this sort of tissue lining (mesothelium).

There are four major places in the body that contain a mesothelium (thin tissue lining), and there are therefore four places where you may initially develop mesothelioma, each of which is considered a different type of mesothelioma.

Pleural Mesothelioma: The most common type of mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma forms in the pleura, or the mesothelium around the lungs. It represents between 80 and 90 percent of all mesothelioma cases.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma: Also called abdominal mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma is the second most common type of mesothelioma, making up around 10-15% of total cases. It affects the peritoneum, the mesothelium lining the abdominal cavity and protecting the internal organs.

Pericardial Mesothelioma: This form of mesothelioma affects the mesothelium tissue surrounding the heart (also called the pericardium). It is much rarer than pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, affecting less than 1% of mesothelioma patients.
Testicular Mesothelioma: Another very rare form of mesothelioma, testicular mesothelioma affects the tissue lining around the testicles called the tunica vaginalis.

What causes mesothelioma?

Like other cancers, mesotheliomas occur when DNA—the chemical in each of our cells that makes up our genes and tells the cells what to do without our body—is damaged. The DNA damage that causes mesothelioma makes affected cells grow out of control, which leads to cancerous cell growth.

So far, research into mesothelioma has revealed some information about what causes different forms of the condition. However, additional research still needs to be conducted before we can state definitively what causes every form of the condition.

We do know that the main cause of the most common forms of mesothelioma—pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma—is exposure to asbestos. Asbestos exposure has also been linked to pericardial and testicular mesotheliomas.

Asbestos is a heat-resistant material that was used in construction and industrial fields for many years. It is made up of microscopic fibers, which become airborne when the material is disturbed. When inhaled or swallowed, the asbestos fibers can lodge in the pleura (the mesothelium tissue lining the lungs), or the peritoneum (the mesothelium tissue lining the abdomen), where they can cause inflammation and scarring over time. This can damage cell DNA, which can lead to the development of mesothelioma in the affected area.

What are the symptoms of mesothelioma?

All forms of mesothelioma have similarities and differences—including when it comes to symptoms.

Certain symptoms can be experienced with any form of mesothelioma. These include:

Weakness
Feeling unwell with no alternative explanation (also called “malaise”)
Night sweats
A consistent or recurring fever
Sudden, unintended weight loss
Fatigue

Beyond those symptoms, there are additional symptoms that may indicate specific types of mesothelioma.

Pleural mesothelioma:

Chest pain (linked to pleural effusion, or a buildup of fluid between your lungs and your chest wall)
Shoulder pain
Painful, chronic dry coughing
Hoarseness
Shortness of breath and labored breathing (dyspnea) that comes on slowly and gets worse over time.
Trouble swallowing and throat/esophageal pain (dysphagia).
A constant or recurrent sensation of having something stuck in the back of your throat.
New or unusual lumps of tissue under the skin of the chest
Lower back pain (often caused by pressure on the nerves and spinal cord)
Swelling in the face and arms
Loss of appetite and difficulty eating

Peritoneal Mesothelioma:

Abdominal pain and cramping
Abdominal and stomach bloating
Anemia (low red blood cell count)
Blood clots
Abdominal swelling and abnormal fluid collection (ascites)
Diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress
Constipation
Bowel or urinary problems
Nausea and vomiting
Loss of appetite, constantly feeling full, and difficulty eating
Breathing difficulties
Blockages in small intestine

Pericardial Mesothelioma:

Low blood pressure
Chest pain
Dry cough
Abnormal heart rhythms, especially the onset of a new heart murmur
Heart palpitations
Difficulty breathing (including labored and painful breathing)
Shortness of breath (with or without activity)
Worsening of shortness of breath when lying down

Testicular Mesothelioma:

Hydrocele (swelling in the scrotum caused by fluid accumulation)
Lumps, cysts, or masses in the scrotum
Tenderness or pain in the testicles, scrotum, or groin area
Inguinal mass (a mass that may mimic an inguinal hernia)
Epididymis (inflammation of the sperm-carrying tube in the testicles)

When should I see my doctor about mesothelioma symptoms?

Always talk to your doctor about your concerns as soon as possible. It is better to be safe than sorry.

However, it should be noted that mesothelioma is very rare, and it is notably unlikely that you have mesothelioma unless you were exposed to asbestos, or (to a lesser extent) another potential cause of mesothelioma.

If you or a loved one were exposed to asbestos, you should see a doctor about mesothelioma testing regardless of if you have symptoms or not. Mesothelioma only tends to present with symptoms once the disease is fairly far advanced. Catching mesothelioma before symptoms form gives patients the best possible advantage when it comes to prognosis.

Are you or a loved one looking for more information about mesothelioma? Call (855) 385-9532 today.

Types of Cancers Caused by Asbestos

June 13, 2023/in Asbestos/by Paul Kelley

Asbestos exposure has been linked to several types of cancer, including:

Mesothelioma
Lung cancer
Laryngeal (voice box) cancer
Ovarian cancer
Cancers of the throat, colon, rectum, and stomach

No matter your diagnosis, if there’s a connection between your cancer and asbestos, you may have a legal right to compensation for the harm you suffer. Satterley & Kelley, PLLC helps those affected by asbestos get the compensation they deserve.

What is Asbestos?

Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring, fibrous minerals, according to the American Cancer Society (ACA). They are found all over the world and consist mainly of silicon and oxygen.

There are three types of asbestos fibers, all of which have been linked to causing cancer.

Thousands of asbestos-containing products were made and sold for literally thousands of years due to their resistance to heat, fire, chemicals, and electricity. Asbestos fibers made excellent insulation, automotive parts, building materials, textiles, and hundreds of other products.

Their use greatly expanded during the Industrial Revolution, World War II, and the post-war building boom. Asbestos’ use and its dangers in the US slowly came under more scrutiny until it was largely regulated out of the market in the 1970s.

How Can I Be Exposed to Asbestos?

The main threat of exposure comes from either inhaling asbestos or swallowing it.

Fibers are incredibly light and small. When airborne, they may be too small to see and can stay in the air for a long time.

Asbestos-containing products are generally safe when they’re intact. Problems arise because fibers are liberated when products are installed, repaired, removed, or replaced. Fibers can come loose if a product is cut, torn, or sanded.

Inhaled fibers can reach into the lungs and penetrate the outer lung lining and chest wall (known as the pleura). Swallowed asbestos fibers enter the mouth and mix with saliva while airborne or be coughed up from the lungs after inhalation and swallowed.

Exposure is highest on work sites where asbestos products were installed or repaired, and no precautions against exposure are taken. Workers often returned home with clothing covered with fibers, exposing family members. Read more about common sources of asbestos exposure.

Types of Cancers Linked to Asbestos

Researchers have used two types of studies to determine that asbestos increases the risk of developing several types of cancers. They track the health outcomes of those exposed to asbestos and how the fibers affect lab animals or living cells involved in lab experiments.

Research on people exposed to asbestos shows:

Lung cancer: All types of asbestos fibers are linked to a greater risk of lung cancer, with the danger increasing as the exposure to fibers increases and if the person smokes
Mesothelioma: This cancer type most often affects the pleura and the thin linings surrounding the abdomen (peritoneum). Mesothelioma is closely linked with all kinds of asbestos. This can come from working with asbestos-containing products, being a family member of such a person, as well as living near asbestos mines or factories where these products were made
Other cancer types: Though the strength of the evidence connecting asbestos to developing these cancers varies, links have been found to cancers of the larynx (voice box), ovaries, pharynx (throat), colon, rectum, and stomach

The following organizations have found that asbestos is a carcinogen (a substance causing cancer or helping it grow):

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO)
The federal National Toxicology Program (NTP), a program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Asbestos can also cause non-malignant conditions, including asbestosis (chronic difficulty breathing), pleural plaques (areas of hard, scar-like pleural tissue), pleural thickening, and pleural effusions (excessive fluid between the pleura and lungs). Someone experiencing these conditions may later develop lung cancer or pleural mesothelioma.

Why You Should Hire Satterley & Kelley, PLLC for Your Asbestos Case

If you’re diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related cancer, you may be entitled to compensation for what you’ve endured. This includes physical and mental pain and suffering, financial costs, medical bills, and how the disease impacts your relationships.

You need a law firm with experience representing victims taking legal action against the asbestos industry. Satterley & Kelley, PLLC lawyers have helped asbestos victims for more than 25 years.

We have relationships with the best experts in the world to help us prove that asbestos caused your injury and the physical, emotional, psychological, and financial harm you suffered.

Our attorneys will give your case the full investigation it deserves. We never assume your case will settle, so we don’t take shortcuts. Satterley & Kelley, PLLC will carefully analyze the facts of your case and decide on and execute an effective strategy that can provide you with the most compensation possible.

Call Us Today For A Free Consultation

Satterley & Kelley, PLLC attorneys are here to help if you or someone you love has asbestos-related cancer. To reach our Louisville office, call 855-385-9532. You may also complete our contact form for a free initial consultation.

Legal Discovery and Mesothelioma Lawsuits

May 24, 2023/in Mesothelioma/by Paul Kelley

Discovery is more than the channel for Naked and Afraid, Deadliest Catch, and Moonshiners. Legal “discovery” is also used for a critical part of the personal injury litigation process. What’s learned during discovery often makes or breaks cases.

What is Discovery?

Discovery refers to how the parties involved in a lawsuit gather information from each other and, when necessary, from third parties to gather relevant facts about the case. This information can include documents, testimony, videos, emails, texts, photos, notes, medical records, and physical evidence. It can also lead to the identification of new witnesses or previously unknown evidence.

Several different methods can be used. They include:

Interrogatories: This is a written set of questions one party sends to the other. The receiving party must answer these questions in writing under oath or respond with a valid objection
Requests for production of documents: One party requests to the other party they produce specific documents (on paper or in electronic form) that are relevant to the case
Requests for admissions: This involves asking the other party to admit or deny certain statements relevant to the case. It’s a way to potentially force the opposing party to admit to damaging facts in the case. It can also narrow the issues that the parties disagree about
Depositions: A party and witnesses are questioned under oath by the opposing party’s lawyer, then their lawyer. Expert witnesses can be deposed if they’re part of the case. Depositions are often recorded, a transcript is made, and testimony can be used as evidence at trial

Discovery can be a lengthy and complex process. Depending on the case, it can take months or years to complete.

What’s My Role in the Discovery Process?

After we receive discovery requests from the defendant, we’ll work with you to prepare and serve answers to the defendant.

We will also prepare you for your deposition. We’ll go through a “dry run” with questions we’ll ask and those we think the defendant’s attorney will ask. You must answer honestly, including admitting you don’t remember if that’s the case.

How Does Discovery Help Me?

Ideally, discovery will uncover facts and testimony that support your case. They may result in a faster settlement for a greater amount than expected. The more facts we know, the better we can represent you.

Uncovering damaging information is also helpful in a way. To competently and professionally represent you and your interests, we must know about all the evidence, whether it aids your case or not. It helps us decide what kind of settlement to recommend you accept or what we think your chances of success at trial will be. We also don’t want to be surprised by bad news if we go to trial.

Depositions not only provide important information, but we get a good idea of how the parties and witnesses will handle testifying if the case goes to trial. Someone may appear open, calm, credible, evasive, angry, under control, or overly emotional to a jury. Jury members may see the person as believable, relatable, unfriendly, or unlikeable. These negative and positive perceptions can influence case outcomes, and we consider this when advising our clients on what to do.

Discovery can also be a valuable tool for settling a case. By the time discovery is over, all of the parties’ proverbial cards should be on the table for all to see. Discovery allows the parties and their attorneys to fully understand the case and how it may play out at trial. With fewer unknowns, both sides should understand your case’s settlement value, making settling easier.

Speak With An Experienced Personal Injury and Mesothelioma Attorney

If another party’s negligence injures you or a loved one, Satterley & Kelley, PLLC has decades of experience representing accident victims. To discuss your situation with a knowledgeable Louisville lawyer, contact our law offices online or by telephone at 855-385-9532.