Tag Archives: Milwaukee

Over $29,000,000.00 in Mesothelioma Asbestos Recoveries for Wisconsin Victims

Wisconsin mesothelioma asbestos victims have no better place to turn to than Wisconsin personal injury lawyers Pasternak & Zirgibel, S.C.  Over the years, I have helped Wisconsin asbestos victims recover more than $29 million in cases related to asbestos and/or mesothelioma.  Many of these victims were exposed to asbestos in the military, a factory, a boiler room, construction sites, power plants, etc.

Ambulance-chasing outfits from out-of-state advertise nationally for these cases, but all my Wisconsin clients prefer legal representation in Wisconsin especially highly qualified legal representation.  I have been honored as one of Wisconsin’s Top 50 “Super Lawyers”, voted “Best Attorney” by CNI Newspapers, ranked as one of Milwaukee’s “Leading Lawyers“, received an AV® Preeminent rating, and named one of the “Best Lawyers in America.”

My firm is ranked a Tier 1 Milwaukee plaintiffs personal injury law firm by “Best Law Firms” U.S. News and World Report®. It is a Martindale-Hubbell AV® rated Wisconsin personal injury law firm listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and A+ BBB rated, the highest ratings given to any Wisconsin law firm.

If you or a loved one is a Wisconsin victim of asbestos mesothelioma, call at (262) 785-0802.

Milwaukee Mesothelioma Lawsuit

Not long ago, I met with a man suffering from mesothelioma.  This man had worked his entire career at Wisconsin Electric also know as WE Energies.  The man worked at a variety of power plants in Wisconsin, including the Oak Creek power plant, the downtown Milwaukee plant, the Miller valley power plant in Milwaukee, the Pleasant Prairie plant near Kenosha, and various other Wisconsin Electric power plants and substations.  On a number of occasions, he would work around asbestos included electrical work, plumbing related work, and oil treatment work.  The asbestos was in gaskets, insulating pipes, used around wire and joints.  Asbestos was used because it was a good insulator.

Sadly, the man was living a nice life of retirement in Florida enjoying when he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma.  Mesothelioma is a deadly disease that is only caused by asbestos exposure.  He was suffering from shortness of breath when his doctor discovered fluid on his lungs.  Eventually, a thoracic surgeon was seen and he did a biopsy, which led to the definitive diagnosis of asbestos-related mesothelioma.

When I handle these mesothelioma lawsuits, the victims generally know that their disease is a fatal one.  However, the victims also know that the monies that are involved in these asbestos cases will do at least two things, punish the companies responsible (as many knew asbestos was carcinogenic and caused mesothelioma) and help the families of the victim of mesothelioma.

Boiler Insulation & Asbestos

A Wisconsin Navy veteran contacted me several years ago.  This Naval veteran had served on the USS Tattnall as a boiler technician.   He was suffering with mesothelioma that was caused by years of asbestos exposure while serving in our U.S. Navy.  This exposure to asbestos fibers took place while he worked in the boilerrooms surrounded by asbestos covered pipes on the U.S. Tattnall.  He had been diagnosed by asbestos doctors at the Veteran’s Administration.  Sadly, he passed away as a result of the mesothelioma.

Boiler insulation is a very common culprit in asbestos mesothelioma cases, including those involving U.S. Naval Veterans who worked on ships.  The removal of this thermal insulation from boilers, pipes, tanks and ducts, which was common in all boilerrooms, caused the asbestos fibers to be released into the air.  When repairs or maintenance was required, whether in ships or industrial applications, the insulation was a friable form of asbestos that could easily emit fibers easily into the air.  Similarly, fibrous fluffy sprayed-on asbestos products used for fireproofing, insulation, or sound proofing were quite friable and could readily release airborne asbestos fibers.  The potential for asbestos products to release breathable fibers was extremely hazardous to all those working in industrial occupations, especially with respect to boiler insulation.

We were able to successfully help this man’s family as we have many Navy veterans and veterans who served in other branches of the U.S. armed forces.  We have also helped numerous boilermakers, plumbers and others exposed to asbestos in similar occupations.  To date, we have helped the families of these mesothelioma victims living in Milwaukee, and other areas of Wisconsin, to recover more than $25,000,000.00.  That we know of, no other local asbestos law firm has had this type of success.  In fact, even so-called “national firms” have had limited success in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s Top Super Lawyers – Asbestos Mesothelioma

Honored to share with you my recent recognition in Milwaukee Magazine (December 2014) via Super Lawyers again as one of the Top 50 Wisconsin Super Lawyers.  Not one other Wisconsin lawyer handling a large number of Wisconsin asbestos victims’ mesothelioma cases is selected to this list, similar to my recognition in The Best Lawyers in America.  I have assisted dozens of families to recover well in excess of $20 million after diagnosis of mesothelioma as the result of asbestos exposure and consider it a privilege to represent these Wisconsin victims.  I have found that though there are law firms that advertise nationally for these cases, my client greatly prefer having legal representation in Wisconsin.

Wiscsonsin Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts Bill

Wisconsin legislators, at the behest for ALEC and the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, are at it again.  Over the course of the last two years, they have combined to completely decimate asbestos and mesothelioma victims’ legal rights.  These victims are typically senior citizens who have served our country in the armed forces, especially the Navy, or who were construction laborers, plumbers, electricians, etc.  Most of these victims are dying a horrible death suffocating from the asbestos they breathed in over the course of their service.  These Wisconsin citizens and Veterans are dying and yet these Wisconsin legislators, primarily Republicans, like Andre Jacque of De Pere, are shilling for big businesses and insurance companies.  Representative Jacque apparently doesn’t care that only 9 asbestos related lawsuits were even filed in Wisconsin in 2012.  No, instead he seeks to make sure that any remaining Wisconsin victims of asbestos and mesothelioma will not get justice.

The law Jacque, ALEC, and the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council propose compels that asbestos victims bring all Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust claims first, before bringing a lawsuit against non-bankrupt asbestos companies, like Halliburton, Union Carbide, utilities, and others. The goal is to reduce asbestos victims’ recoveries and delay mesothelioma victims’ ability to get their day in court before the die. Jacque apparently does not want to hear the latter, but that’s the tragic result of the law he has proposed. Clearly, Jacque has never had a family member die from asbestos-related disease or mesothelioma.

Wisconsin asbestos mesothelioma lawyers

Asbestos Insulation & Contractors

Recently read an Illinois law firm’s article “Asbestos Liabilities of Dissolved Industrial Insulation Contractor.”  The case involved asbestos and mesothelioma wrongful death cases against Sprinkmann Insulation based on its takeover of Sprinkmann Sons Corp. of Illinois.  The latter was a former asbestos insulation contractor.

That asbestos lawsuit reminded me a of client I represented who was a former employee of Sprinkmann Sons in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Sadly, he died of mesothelioma related to his asbestos exposure after working decades for Sprinkmann Sons in Wisconsin.  After a pleural biopsy, his oncologist diagnosed mesothelial hyperplasia showing malignant messothelial cells and epithelioid malignant mesothelioma.  His mesothelioma was the result of working for many years in industrial locations around Milwaukee, such as the Pabst Brewery.  The company was a contractor and distributor of insulation, cold storage facilities and interiors and worked in places like that processed cold and frozen foods, chemical plants, nuclear power plants, electric stations, and of course, breweries.  He worked as an installer and contractor with all the hundreds of products that were laced with asbestos fibers, including blankets, boilers, expansion joints, HVAC systems, insulation, pipes, plumbing, tanks, turbines, valves, and industrial equipment.  Though every asbestos and mesothelioma lawsuit is different, the recovery I was able to help obtain for this man’s family exceeded $1.5 million.

Wisconsin Court of Appeals throws out $1.5 million Asbestos verdict

In Singer v. Pneumo Abex, LLC, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled that a Milwaukee court should have granted summary judgment against the estate of a man who died from malignant mesothelioma.  The successful Wisconsin defense law firm in the case was the Madison office of Godfrey & Kahn.   The unsuccessful plaintiff was represented by an out-of-state law firm and not a Wisconsin asbestos law firm.

The evidence in the case showed that the plaintiff’s decedent had worked at Harnishfeger, one of many Wisconsin companies facing asbestos litigation or alleged to have some link to asbestos or mesothelioma.  The evidence also showed that the plaintiff’s decedent was likely exposed to asbestos while cleaning up asbestos dust caused by brake linings at Harnishfeger’s plants.  However, the plaintiff failed to prove that the plaintiff’s decedent was ever likely exposed to Abex’s brake shoes with asbestos.

Unfortunately, this problem highlights one of the major difficulties in succeeding in a wrongful death case related to malignant mesothelioma caused by asbestos, which is locating credible evidence from which a reasonable person could infer that the deceased was exposed to the defendant’s asbestos product.  Since malignant mesothelioma may not be diagnosed for 20 or 30 years after a person’s exposure to asbestos, there may be difficulty in proving which asbestos products the person was exposed to that caused the mesothelioma.

The problem of product identification is one of many reasons why anyone diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma should hire immediately an asbestos lawyer.  Too often, families will wait to hire a lawyer until after their family member has died from mesothelioma.  However, doing that prevents the asbestos lawyer from obtaining sometimes critical evidence the would allow the attorney to prove which asbestos products caused the mesothelioma.