Mesothelioma Cases and Verdicts

Local Asbestos Contractor and Distributor Pay Substantial Awards

Because of the bankruptcy of so many manufacturers and producers of asbestos products, Lipsitz & Ponterio, LLC has turned its attention toward the responsibility of companies which engaged in selling and installing asbestos products. Two of our clients have received substantial awards from three such companies.

In June 2002, a Niagara County jury awarded a former Carbide Graphite employee, nearly $2 million. The employee worked until 1999 when he could no longer do so due to shortness of breath. Two years later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer due to workplace exposure to asbestos. The jury found two local distributors of asbestos insulation products responsible for his injuries: Buffalo Insulation Distributors and Niagara Insulation Distributors, which sold asbestos to Carbide Graphite. The verdict was the first in Western New York against distributors of asbestos insulation products.

Laundry Leads to $2 Million Settlement

Lipsitz & Ponterio, LLC recently negotiated a settlement in the amount of $2 million for the wife of a construction worker. Each time she did the laundry, she was exposed to the asbestos fibers and dust on his construction clothing. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma. We were able to link her illness to the laundering of clothing.

Electrician Receives Settlement

The widow of a Local 41 electrician received a substantial settlement from a local spray and plastering contractor after a two week trial. Her husband had died at age 58 as a result of malignant mesothelioma. Michael A. Ponterio and John P. Comerford were able to prove that the company knew about the hazards of asbestos, but took no precautions to prevent exposure to workers.

Household Exposure Case Settled

Our client is married to a man who worked at the Durez facility in North Tonawanda. She didn't know that every time she laundered his work clothes, she was being exposed to asbestos. In 1998 she was diagnosed with lung cancer, caused by the asbestos exposure, and underwent extensive surgery to remove part of her lung. Lipsitz & Ponterio was able to negotiate a considerable cash settlement prior to the commencement of the trial.

Local Asbestos Contractor Responsible for Niagara County Worker's Death

A local contractor agreed to pay half a million dollars to the family of a Niagara County factory worker who died from mesothelioma after Lipsitz & Ponterio uncovered correspondence from 1960 revealing that the contractor knew that asbestos dust caused death in exposed workers and yet failed to warn its own employees and customers.