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Posts by: Steven Kazan

Gratitude and Scientific News from the University of Chicago’s Mesothelioma Research Program

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mesothelioma researchEven though I have been a mesothelioma attorney for many years, I never get used to the heartbreak of each and every one of my mesothelioma clients.  As I get to know each client and their families, they become more than clients.  Each becomes a face I will never forget; a suffering human being who came into my life near the premature end of theirs to seek help and justice.  And even though I am a mesothelioma attorney, my biggest wish is that there would be no more mesothelioma clients.  No more suffering and pain to individuals and their families from the callously negligent exposure to asbestos from the mesothelioma client’s employer.

That is why I also closely follow medical mesothelioma research and have our firm’s charitable foundation financially support mesothelioma research that someday will help to prolong their lives.

In 2006, I was in Chicago attending a meeting of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group.  One of the speakers was a key mesothelioma medical researcher from the prestigious University of Chicago medical school.  Hedy Lee Kindler MD is a top international cancer expert and one of the best around for mesothelioma.  In fact, she is the director of the Mesothelioma Research Program at the University of Chicago and a recent president of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group.

I spoke with Dr. Kindler who was also treating several of our clients. I was so impressed with the novel approaches she and her team were taking and decided to recommend to our Board of Directors that we financially support their work through the firm’s charitable foundation. And every year, I receive a wonderful summary of the research that contribution is helping to fund.

Dr. Kindler and her colleague Dr. Ravi Salgia now are evaluating a signaling pathway – molecules that kickstart cell activity – which appears to play a pivotal role in cell growth in malignant mesothelioma. Their goal of blocking this pathway could prove to be crucial to developing new mesothelioma therapies.

Other researchers in the program are carrying out studies using over 100 mesothelioma tissue samples and cells from the University of Chicago’s Thoracic Tumor Bank.  These studies also will help clarify how specific pathways get activated in mesothelioma and how genetically-engineered drugs can target them.

“The opportunities in our clinical research program to deliver focused targeted therapies give us confidence that we will play a critical role in improving survival and outcomes for mesothelioma patients. Your partnership continues to help us achieve our shared vision,” states my annual thank you letter.

I am proud to be part of that vision.

Court Reinforces Right to Sue at State Level for Workers Exposed to Workplace Toxins

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OSHAOccupational safety means just that.  It means safety on the job from life-threatening hazards like asbestos exposure and other workplace toxins. So today I have good news for all of us who care about justice and occupational safety for America’s work force!

Last week, a federal court unanimously issued a ruling strengthening protections for Americans injured by hazardous substances, including asbestos exposure, on the job.

Specifically, the federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit filed by the American Tort Reform Association that challenged an important section of wording in OSHA’s revised hazard communication standard.  OSHA is the Occupational and Safety Hazard Administration, a division of the Department of Labor.

Both state and federal laws outline how companies are required to label harmful substances – including asbestos – in the workplace. Federal law usually trumps state law, but victims injured due to inadequate hazard labeling are still allowed to sue their employer for damages under state law.  The American Tort Reform Association, an industry-funded group, tried to overturn that and was unsuccessful.

I learned of this favorable ruling from Leah Nicholls, the Kazan-Budd attorney at Public Justice, a Washington D.C.-based public interest law firm.  I am proud to say that Kazan Law co-funds Leah Nicholls at Public Justice so she can work on difficult cases to protect people and the environment against powerful interests.

“The court’s opinion is great news for all of us who want to hold employers liable for injuries to employees,” Leah said.

“OSHA endorses the ability of employees injured because of inadequate labeling of hazardous substances to sue under state law to get damages for their injuries and, importantly, to prevent the same injuries from happening to other employees,” she added. “The fact that the D.C. Circuit held that OSHA’s endorsement stands will help persuade other courts that the existence of federal regulations does not prevent people from suing under state laws.”

The US Supreme Court has issued several rulings in recent years scaling back Americans’ ability to sue corporations for damages. The high court is also the most business-friendly since World War II, according to the New York Times business section. In that context especially, Leah said, “This is a heartening decision.”  I concur.

New Year, New Name for Kazan Law

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Kazan LawIt’s a new year and our firm has a new name.  A new year is always an excellent time for change, revitalization and renewal. Sometimes change is by choice; you initiate it. Other times change comes to you unbidden and you need to embrace that change and embrace the opportunities it brings.

Here at Kazan Law, we have had change come our way even though we did not seek it.  We were Kazan, McClain, Satterley, Lyons, Greenwood & Oberman.  As of today, our new name is Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, a Professional Law Corporation—a reflection of two of our longtime partners choosing retirement.

Dianna Lyons and James Oberman are difficult to say goodbye and farewell to – although we do most emphatically wish them both well.  Both these veteran attorneys are giants in the field and have been with me for many years.  Jim was a certified appellate specialist who did outstanding motion and appeals work and Dianna was a great appellate lawyer who became an accomplished trial lawyer with us. I’ll be giving you a closer look at each of their careers as a proper send-off soon. For now just know that we will miss them.

But as the chapters on their careers at Kazan Law and in asbestos litigation close, new chapters will open. New brilliant young minds fresh from law school and on fire to change the world – or at least a piece of it – will find their way to our door. We will welcome them in just as we once welcomed Dianna Lyons and James Oberman.  And new attorneys will work with us to help you and your families as we always have.

Bottom line?  We’re still Kazan Law.  That hasn’t changed.  We are still the ground-breaking top-ranked asbestos litigation firm we’ve been for decades. We remain passionately committed to fighting for the rights of victims of asbestos exposure and trail blazing new precedents in asbestos law.

Kazan Law is a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ asbestos law firm with a particular expertise as asbestos lawyers fighting for victims of mesothelioma, a cancer that is a result of exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. Some of the principals in our firm are pioneers in asbestos litigation and among the most experienced asbestos lawyers in California. Our attorneys have been instrumental in winning precedent-setting rulings by the California Appellate and Supreme Courts that have impacted asbestos law in California and ensured that asbestos victims have the opportunity to seek justice in the court system against those who caused their illness.

Bringing Asbestos Home: The Dangers of Secondary Asbestos Exposure

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secondary asbestos exposureIn the Bible story, God mercifully allows Abraham to spare the life of his son Isaac.  But secondary asbestos exposure is not merciful.  Asbestos fibers accidentally brought into the home by industrial worker Johney Clemmons caused the death of his son Randy Brady Clemmons.  Sadly, Johney Clemmons himself died from the asbestos fibers choking his lungs decades before his son also succumbed to illness from secondary asbestos exposure.

The premature deaths of both father and son separated by time but united in cause and tragedy both became cases I handled at Kazan Law for the Clemmons family in turn. The recent publication of a new book by Debbie Clemmons, wife of Randy, about coping with his mesothelioma prompted me to want to discuss with you the dangers of secondary as well as primary asbestos exposure.

Johney Joseph Clemmons, had spent 30 years working at the Fibreboard Corporation’s Emeryville, California asbestos insulation manufacturing plant. Johney began to get sick in the early 1970s, and by 1975 had severe pulmonary asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos fibers that restricted the lungs’ ability to provide enough oxygen to the body. He continued to work until 1977 when he could no longer manage, and at age 57 was forced to retire. Several years later, he developed lung cancer on top of his asbestosis and passed away on December 7, 1981.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States, an estimated 27 million workers were exposed to aerosolized asbestos fibers between 1940 and 1979.

Because of a lack of proper industrial hygiene, asbestos workers went home covered in asbestos dust. The workers’ families and other household contacts were then exposed via inhalation of asbestos dust

  • from workers’ skin, hair, and clothing, and
  • during laundering of contaminated work clothes.

A mortality study of 878 household members of asbestos workers revealed that 4 out of 115 total deaths were from pleural mesothelioma and that the rate of deaths from all types of cancer was doubled.

Randy was 26 years old when his father died as a result of asbestos exposure in 1981.  Randy died in 2009 at age 54 as a result of secondary asbestos exposure unknowingly brought home by his father.

Laurie Kazan-Allen Receives Award for Global Ban Asbestos Efforts

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global asbestos banSaturday, December 21, 2013 marks the second anniversary of the death of Rachel Lee Jung-Lim.  Rachel was a mesothelioma patient who died because of her asbestos-caused illness at age 39.  But this young South Korean woman also became in the brief time left to her, a strong voice in the global ban asbestos fight.

Rachel was supported in her campaign against asbestos by a leading international veteran in the global asbestos contamination struggle, my sister Laurie Kazan-Allen. I’ve just learned that Laurie has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Rachel Lee Jung-Lim Award.

Laurie became interested in asbestos issues long ago. Because she was living in England, I asked her to serve legal papers for Kazan Law on asbestos companies based there who we were suing in the US.

She also did some research for me on cases involving clients who had worked in the UK.  That’s how she initially got to meet victims groups. But Laurie deserves full credit for where she took it from there and for the level of integrity, dedication and passion she has brought to this cause.

But I fear I am biased. So I will simply quote from the letter announcing Laurie’s award:

  • Laurie Kazan-Allen has devoted herself to the campaign of global asbestos ban over 14 years with the establishment of International Ban Asbestos Secretariat in 2000. In doing so, she was one of the first to raise the issue of increased asbestos consumption in developing countries, particularly in Asia, whilst most western societies have banned or reduced.
  • As an activist, her soul has rested always with victims and through recognizing, organizing, and supporting victims, she has contributed a lot to the launching and strengthening of civil movements in many developed and developing countries.
  • Without her, it would have been impossible to launch Ban Asbestos Network Korea in 2008, Asia Ban Asbestos network in 2009, and Indonesia Ban Asbestos Network in 2010.
  • Her life has been a role model to many activists as well as experts. We do hope her dream of a global asbestos ban comes true not far from now as Rachel Lee Jung-Lim wished too.

The award is jointly presented by the following groups:

Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health
School of Public Health Seoul National University
Ban Asbestos Network Korea
Korean Association of Asbestos Victims and their Families
Asia Ban Asbestos Network
Ban Asbestos Network Japan
Asia Monitor Resource Center
RightOnCanada.ca

Kazan Law Client Publishes New Book on Daily Life With Mesothelioma

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The Randy Brady StoryEvery one of our mesothelioma clients is unforgettable to us at Kazan Law. Each client is unique with their own story to tell.  Even after many years of experience in asbestos litigation, we remember and cherish each of the lives that briefly touched ours before being cruelly extinguished by mesothelioma or other asbestos-related disease.  We also get to know their families as we help them through this sad and difficult time and always appreciate it when they stay in touch with us.

I was especially pleased when Kazan Law client Debbie Clemmons, the wife of mesothelioma victim Randy Brady Clemmons, approached me this past summer about writing a chapter for her new book about her family’s experience with mesothelioma.  Now I am proud to announce that her book has been published. “In His Grace, Grappling with Mesothelioma: The Randy Brady Story” is now out in paperback. It is available on Amazon where it also can be downloaded in a Kindle edition. And she kindly credits me as a co-author.

My first introduction to the Clemmons family came in 1982, when I helped Randy’s mother Juanita Clemmons win a settlement for the asbestos-caused death of Randy’s father Johney Clemmons in 1981. Randy’s father unknowingly worked with asbestos for 30 years in an Emeryville insulation factory. This exposure took his life as well as Randy’s who developed malignant mesothelioma from inhaling the fibers brought home on his father’s work clothes.  So I feel I have walked this journey with this brave family and was glad to participate in helping Debbie write this book.

At 264 pages, Debbie’s book covers the progression of Randy’s mesothelioma from the beginning of his treatment in 2007 to his death at age 54 in 2009.

“On the pages of this book is our story of how we grappled with mesothelioma. I have a day by day; play by play experience of what we went through. There is also a lot of information on pain management,” Debbie explains in her book jacket text.

The Clemmons family members are deeply religious Christians – Randy was the morning host on KFAX, a San Francisco-based Christian radio station.  He also hosted the Christian Fellowship days with the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s.   Debbie’s book also recounts how her family’s faith and spiritual beliefs helped them through this experience with grace and strength.

But it is also about how they were uplifted by the caring shown to them by other people. “When the terminal diagnosis was given to us, we were showered by the goodness of the people in the community.  Over two hundred people came to our rescue by acts of kindness, meals, financial help and prayer. True acts of love and grace,” she states.

As for my part, Debbie asked me to write the chapter in her book called “How to Choose an Asbestos Attorney.”  In it, I explain why choosing an asbestos attorney is the most important financial decision you will ever make, why you should not limit your choice of attorney to those with offices nearby and how to spot a fake asbestos attorney website. I hope you will take the opportunity to read it.

New Asbestos Report – Where It’s Mined, Where There’s Illness and What’s Being Done About It

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12.16.13.KLWhen it comes to asbestos exposure and its dire consequences, sadly it’s a small world after all.  Asbestos is still mined in many countries, exported across borders and incorporated into products that get shipped around the globe. Malignant mesothelioma resulting from asbestos exposure spares no one based on nationality or ethnicity.

That’s why I am sharing with you news of a landmark new report about asbestos just published in Europe and brought to my attention by a prominent anti-asbestos activist in England – my sister Laurie Kazan-Allen.

The report “Asbestos-Related Occupational Diseases in Central and East European Countries” provides as thorough as possible an overview – some countries keep no records – of the status of asbestos and asbestos-related illness throughout Europe.  Easy to read and available online for free, the report is packed with interesting information.

Consider this for example:  World production of asbestos was estimated to be 1.98 million tons in 2012. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS, 2013), Russia was the leading producer of asbestos, followed by China, Brazil, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Canada. These six countries accounted for 99% of world production in 2013.

Or this excellent historical synopsis:  Commercial exploitation (of asbestos), with little thought for environmental controls, increased over the 20th century, particularly in the period of strong economic growth after 1945. The unique technical properties led to a boom in consumption; asbestos was used in huge quantities in buildings or ships, and also for many smaller applications, such as cigarette filters. In the first substitution projects of the 1980s, alternatives for more than 3,000 technical applications had to be found.

Major topics covered include monitoring of asbestos-related diseases, recognition of occupational asbestos-related disease and the problem of underreporting.

This research report was commissioned and coordinated by the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and its project partners International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), with the financial support of the European Commission

The report was prepared by the Kooperationsstelle Hamburg. This research institute provides national and international services and studies in the field of occupational safety, health and environmental protection.

Veteran Science Writer Defends Asbestos Victims’ Rights in the New York Times

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asbestos industry rebuttalThe community of asbestos victims’ advocates although international in scope is a relatively small one.  Most asbestos victims’ advocates are family members of asbestos victims or those of us involved in meeting their legal or medical needs. As a result most of what is written about asbestos and asbestos victims appears in publications and/or websites that are offshoots of these groups.

That’s why it is worth noting when someone goes to bat for asbestos victims in an important major media outlet like the New York Times.  Especially when that someone is a national science writer on environmental health hazards who has focused on asbestos.

The New York Times recently published an important letter about asbestos written by Paul Brodeur, an investigative science writer and author.  It appeared both in the paper’s internet and print editions.

In the letter, Brodeur states, “An estimated 10,000 Americans are dying of asbestos disease each year; before the asbestos tragedy has run its course, an estimated 500,000 Americans will have died of the disease.”

Brodeur is a former staff writer for The New Yorker magazine where the zeal for fact-checking is legendary.  So it is reasonable to presume scientific accuracy in Brodeur’s work.  No friend of industries that risk people’s lives for profit, Brodeur  also exposed the dangers of household detergents, the depletion of the ozone layer and electromagnetic radiation from power lines when these issues emerged during the 1970s and 1980s.

But a major focus of his environmental hazard reporting has been on asbestos. Over a twenty-year period, he researched and wrote four books about asbestos:

  • Asbestos & Enzymes (1972)
  • Expendable Americans (1974)
  • The Asbestos Hazard (1980)
  • Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial (1985)

So recently, when an asbestos industry supporter disparaged asbestos victims in a New York Times op ed, Brodeur felt compelled to write a rebuttal.

In his letter, he says the industry supporter “makes light of a claimant’s assertion that she was subjected to asbestos exposure because she lived in a house with relatives who worked with asbestos, but numerous studies link household exposure (often called “bystander exposure”) with asbestos disease.”

He further cites the investigation by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, former director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Environmental Sciences Laboratory, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, former vice president for epidemiology and statistics of the American Cancer Society, “… who showed that nonsmoking asbestos workers died of lung cancer seven times more often than people in the general population, and whose calculations suggested that asbestos workers who smoked had more than 90 times the risk of dying of lung cancer as men who neither worked with asbestos nor smoked.”

 

Kazan Law’s Foundation Helps Those Who Help the Homeless

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Kazan Law's foundationRecently, an item on the morning news caught my attention.  It actually riveted me and stopped me in mid-lift of my coffee cup in a way few news items ever do.  It was Pope Francis, the controversial new pope of the Catholic Church who is making news headlines by speaking out on behalf of the poor.  And this is what he was saying:

How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?

The Pope’s bold statement to the world hits home especially now here in Northern California.  Right now we are experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures. Sadly, four homeless people died of hypothermia in the San Francisco Bay Area since last week, highlighting the danger to people without shelter as the region is gripped by freezing temperatures.  Although these deaths did make the news, it does not make up for these the fact that these deaths were preventable.

That’s why I am proud that one of the organizations our firm’s foundation supports is the Dolores Street Community Services.  As their organization’s own tag line says so well, what they do is to provide “neighborhood answers to homelessness.”

Dolores Street Community Services operates the only shelters for men in the Mission District and the only shelters in San Francisco specialized in serving Latino working poor men. The Dolores Shelter Program began in 1982 as a sanctuary for refugees. Today, it provides support and emergency housing for up to 100 working homeless men every night.  Dolores Street Community Services also provides other needed services to the community, including those living with AIDS.

But as the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. Businesses spend money on things like advertising and promotional events to attract customers and make more money.  But nonprofit organizations often can’t afford do that.  They may not have money to spare to promote themselves and attract donations.  That’s where our firm’s foundation was able to help Dolores Street Community Services.  We helped underwrite their recent fundraiser and were glad to do it.

 

Mesothelioma Treatment and Medicare

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mesothelioma treatmentBecause it may take decades for symptoms of malignant mesothelioma to develop to the point that it can be diagnosed, it is highly likely that a person suffering from mesothelioma could be over 65.  And if a mesothelioma patient is over 65, it is possible that he or she is on Medicare.  But you could be eligible for Medicare benefits if you require mesothelioma treatment even if you are under 65.

Medicare is the federal government’s healthcare program intended primarily for older Americans. It covers qualifying individuals age 65 or older. But it also covers people under age 65 who are disabled and suffering from serious illnesses like mesothelioma.

When a worker who has paid a sufficient amount into the Social Security system becomes unable to hold a job for at least 12 months, he or she is eligible for Social Security disability (SSD) benefits. If you meet the criteria for disability, you could begin receiving Medicare two years after being approved for SSD.

But if you receive a personal injury legal settlement, you may have to use part of it to repay Medicare for your mesothelioma treatment. Medicare refers to their reimbursement right as a “reimbursement claim” but it is basically the same as a healthcare lien. Federal law requires all parties to “consider Medicare’s interests” in third party settlements where Medicare has made what are called “conditional payments” for injury-related care.

The term “conditional payments” describes the injury-related healthcare payments Medicare made for your mesothelioma treatment, although another party caused – and is legally responsible for – your injury. Medicare pays for your care on the condition that the responsible party’s funds will be used to pay the program back for your treatment.

A federal law called The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 requires you and your attorney to inform Medicare that they made a “conditional payment.” Your attorney should request a conditional payment summary, then analyze, review and resolve Medicare’s claims for reimbursement. At Kazan Law, we work hard for our clients and part of that is making sure that you do not get stuck using your settlement to pay medical bills that have been inflated in anticipation of a settlement claim.  When we obtain large settlements for our clients, we also see to it that they get to keep as much of it as possible by carefully examining insurance and Medicare itemized claims and medical bills, and negotiating appropriate deductions for the value of our efforts in collecting the funds so that typically our clients end up paying less than half the claimed amount.

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