The diagnosis of lung cancer is an emotional and physical trauma for the patient involved, as well as their families. Unfortunately, in many instances, when one is diagnosed with lung cancer, he or she, as well as their treating physicians, automatically assume that it is due solely to cigarette smoking. However, scientific studies have shown that in many lung cancers, asbestos has played a very strong contributing role as a causative factor, even in individuals who were heavy smokers.

Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer in individuals who are occupationally exposed to asbestos. Exposure to asbestos and cigarette smoking are synergistic factors for the development of lung cancer. Experts estimate that there is a 50 to 100 times increased risk for lung cancer in asbestos workers who smoke, as opposed to asbestos workers who do not smoke.

All too often, when one is diagnosed with lung cancer they fail to realize the role that asbestos played in causing his or her disease. Many treating physicians overlook the role of asbestos, as well, and commonly conclude that smoking is the sole cause. One who has been diagnosed with lung cancer which is caused, in part, by asbestos has significant legal rights against the asbestos companies, who knowingly placed their products in the work place.

A Will is a legal instrument that lets you tell the world how you want your assets to be distributed at your death. Should you die without a Will, the Commonwealth decides who gets your estate assets, without regard to your wishes or your heirs’ needs.

Wills are not just for the rich! Regardless of how much, or how little, money you have, a Will ensures that your personal belongings and assets will go to family or beneficiaries whom you designate in your Will.

If you have children, a Will is a must to ensure that you choose the Guardian of your children’s care. Without a Will, a court will determine who will care for your young children, and their property, should the other parent also pass away, or be unavailable, or unfit to care for them.

Finally, a Will lets you name the person who will oversee the settling of your affairs after you die, or what is called an Executor or Executrix. Without a Will, the Court will step in and choose the person responsible for wrapping up your affairs. The person the Court chooses might not be the person you would have wanted and sometimes a family conflict develops over who should be appointed by the judge. There are other benefits to having a Will, including tax benefits.

If you already have a Will, you may want to consider drafting a Trust instrument. A Trust is a legal mechanism that lets you put conditions on how your assets are distributed after you die and often lets you minimize gift and estate taxes.

Please feel free to consult with GPW’s staff of qualified attorneys, at no charge to you, to get answers to your estate-related questions and counsel you as to what best fits your needs and accomplishes your desires.

When purchasing auto insurance in Pennsylvania, one may choose either Full Tort Insurance coverage or Limited Tort Insurance coverage. Many people choose the Limited Tort option because it is less expensive. It is important to understand that purchasing a cheaper Limited Tort policy does not mean that you are limiting the rights of a person injured by you to recover for those injuries – you are limiting your own right to be made whole if someone else injures you!

Under either Full Tort or Limited Tort, a person may be entitled to recover economic damages such as lost wages and medical bills. However, as to the actual physical injuries suffered, a person who is covered by Limited Tort insurance may only recover if the injury is classified by the law as a “serious injury.”

What you may consider to be a “serious injury” and what the courts consider to be a “serious injury” oftentimes are not the same. For example, soft tissue injuries can be very painful and greatly affect your ability to go about your daily activities, such as caring for your children or even being able to get a decent night’s sleep. With Limited Tort coverage, you would not be entitled to recover anything for this inconvenience and the pain suffered, even though you did absolutely nothing wrong and the other driver was completely at fault. Unless you sustained permanent injury, broken bones, or serious and permanent disfigurement, you will have no right to recover anything except for the amount paid for your medical treatment and the amount of money you lost for missing work.

In short, Limited Tort Insurance limits your ability to be made whole if you are the victim of someone else’s negligence. Giving up your legal rights to be compensated for your injuries is not something you should do without considering the potential risks to you and your family.

In 2009 alone, our attorneys have travelled the country from California to Texas to Florida to Maine to gather evidence and assist our clients. Jason Luckasevic, a Shareholder with our firm, explains that “many clients and their families must relocate because they have no choice but to travel to follow their work and their trades.” Mr. Luckasevic notes that “as long as one was exposed to asbestos in one state, such as Pennsylvania, but that person is now living elsewhere, we can still file a lawsuit for their asbestos disease.”

With six (6) offices, 27 attorneys, and over 100 employees, our firm is committed to competently representing our clients against some of the largest companies in the United States who placed dangerous substances in the workplace. We are backed by a large arsenal of corporate documents, depositions, and medical articles with which to vigorously prosecute our cases. Our combination of size, strength, experience and the accumulation of evidence over the years has led to the culmination of aggressive representation for our clients.

Before 1992, Pennsylvania law required any person injured by asbestos exposure to file one single lawsuit to seek to recover any and all damages related to his asbestos injury, including damages for fear of developing cancer in the future. If the worker did, in fact, develop asbestos-related cancer at a later time, he was not permitted to file a second new action to recover damages for that new injury.

This changed when the Pennsylvania Superior Court decided the case of Marinari v. Asbestos Corporation, Ltd., 612 A.2d 1021 (Pa. Super. 1992), making Pennsylvania a “two-disease” state. After Marinari, victims of nonmalignant asbestos disease were entitled to file new and separate actions if they were unfortunate enough to develop an asbestos-related cancer. The trade-off was that people making claims for nonmalignant asbestos disease were no longer permitted to recover damages for their “fears” of developing asbestos-related cancers.

The question that remained unanswered was what effect the Marinari decision had on people who had filed lawsuits for asbestosis or pleural thickening before 1992, but then developed asbestos-related cancers after 1992. Attorneys for the asbestos companies argued that an individual did not have the right to recover for his asbestos-related cancer because he had already filed the one case that the prior law allowed and already recovered money for his fear of getting cancer. Attorneys for the injured workers argued that having to live with the “fear” of being at an increased risk of developing cancer is a very different injury from what a person suffers from when they actually have cancer.

In the Abrams case, recently decided on October 21, 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with the counsel for the injured workers. It is now the law throughout Pennsylvania that people who filed a case for a nonmalignant asbestos disease before 1992 now have the right to file a new second claim against different defendants, if they were diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer after 1992.

If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, or laryngeal cancer, you may be able to file a lawsuit to recover for that injury even though you have already recovered asbestos benefits in the past for your previously existing, non-malignant asbestos disease. Don’t lose out on your ability to recover additional proceeds for your injury.

Our extensive knowledge and experience over the years in asbestos litigation, as well as the skill of our lawyers has allowed us to achieve these recent results for some of our clients:

• $2.6 million to a living mesothelioma victim who worked at Weirton Steel.
• $2.2 million to the widow of a deceased local #2 insulator who worked in WV.
• $1.3 million to a mesothelioma victim that worked 3 months at an industrial site in WV.
• Over $1.2 million for the widow of a PA man who died from mesothelioma related to his work for United States Steel.
• Over $1 million in settlements for family of deceased OH steelworker who died of mesothelioma.
• $1 million in settlements for widow of deceased OH power plant worker who died of mesothelioma.
• Over $1 million in settlements for self-employed plasterer from OH suffering with mesothelioma.
• Over $900K for the family of a PA mesothelioma victim who worked one summer at a steel mill.
• Over $650K to a WV tradesman who suffers from lung cancer.
• Over $700K to the family of a ME woman who developed mesothelioma as a result of being exposed to asbestos brought home by her husband on his work clothes.
• Over $500K to a Weirton Steel lung cancer victim.