Asbestos is a toxic mineral that has been used in manufacturing for over a century, despite growing evidence of health risks. Exposure to asbestos can cause a variety of diseases, including lung cancer, non-cancerous lung diseases, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining around the lungs or other organs. If you have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, you may be entitled to compensation from the corporations responsible for your asbestos exposure. To recover the compensation to which you are entitled, you will need to file an asbestos exposure lawsuit.

Getting Started With Your Asbestos Exposure Lawsuit

Choose the attorney to represent you in your lawsuit carefully. The difference between an effective experienced asbestos attorney and an under-qualified attorney can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars in compensation.

You don’t have to file your asbestos exposure lawsuit in the same state where you live and your attorney does not need to be located in the same city, or even the same state as you. It’s a good idea to choose one of the top asbestos law firms in the United States to represent you. If your lawyer lives in a different city, he or she will travel to visit you; you will not need to travel in order to pursue your asbestos exposure lawsuit.

Most good asbestos lawyers will work with you on a contingency fee basis, so your lawsuit won’t cost you any money up front. Instead, your lawyer will receive a percentage of any settlement or judgment he or she wins for you. If you don’t recover any compensation, you won’t have to pay any legal bills.

Your attorney will start by investigating potential sources of your asbestos exposure. Asbestos disease can take 40 years or more to develop, so your asbestos attorney will review your places of employment and other potential exposure sites throughout your life. This will determine the appropriate parties to name as defendants in your asbestos exposure lawsuit. There may be just one or several defendants named in your suit.

The Asbestos Exposure Lawsuit Process

Once your attorney has determined whom to sue, he or she will file a lawsuit on your behalf. After the defendants have been served with the lawsuit, the discovery process begins. The defendants will request your medical and employment records. Your lawyer will ask for information from the defendants that will help determine what levels of asbestos exposure each company was responsible for.

Your asbestos lawyer will handle most of this process without the need for much input from you, other than your testimony at a deposition. Your job during this process is to stay home and take care of your health.

The length of time from when you file your lawsuit to the trial date can vary from a few months to over a year. The judge may agree to an expedited trial schedule if you are seriously ill. However, most lawsuits (about 80%) end in a settlement before trial.

Settling Your Asbestos Exposure Lawsuit

Some defendants, realizing that they have no chance of winning at trial, will settle early to reduce their legal expenses. Our clients often begin to receive settlement money within a few months after they file their asbestos exposure lawsuit.

Other defendants may contest their liability, claiming that your asbestos-related disease was caused by other factors than their corporate malfeasance. If evidence comes to light during the discovery process that these defendants were responsible for your asbestos exposure, they may take a different stance. At this point, defendants may become willing to enter into settlement negotiations to avoid a costly trial they are not likely to win.

On rare occasions, a defendant will refuse to settle and your asbestos exposure lawsuit may proceed to trial. Preparing for and going to trial can take weeks or months. Even if you win your case, the defendant may decide to appeal the verdict, which can stretch the process out even longer, delaying your compensation. However, jury verdicts tend to be larger than settlements (Kazan Law recently won a $27 million verdict for one client).

Key Factors to  Successful Asbestos Exposure Lawsuits

The purpose of filing an asbestos exposure lawsuit is to recover the compensation you are due from the corporations responsible for your exposure to toxic levels of asbestos that caused your current illness. The money you receive can help defray your medical expenses, cover lost wages, and allow you and your family to maintain your standard of living at a crucial time in all of your lives. Because this lawsuit is so important to your family’s future, it’s a good idea to do everything in your power to make sure you are successful.

The most important choice you will make is which asbestos law firm will represent you. An experienced asbestos lawyer, with a track record of winning settlements and judgments for clients just like you, can negotiate the best possible compensation for you.

Update: December 15, 2015:  The deadline to file a claim has passed. Subscribe to our blog to receive updates on this case, and the efforts to reverse this unfair bar date ruling. The subscription box is to the right of this post.

Energy Future Holdings (EFH), a $36 billion company, with known asbestos claims against it, has filed for bankruptcy and seeks to drastically limit the legal rights of all its past, present and future asbestos victims. EFH is a very big company that worked on power plants all over the US. It includes Ebasco’s and EECI’s operations nationwide, and Luminant power plants and Oncor power distribution facilities in Texas.

View the EFH plant listings:

Domestic plants

International plants

Whether sick or healthy, if you or a family member have ever worked at any EFH site, you must file a claim by 5 PM Eastern Standard Time on December 14, 2015 or you will lose all rights to make any asbestos claims against this corporate giant and its insurance companies.

If you now have mesothelioma or any other asbestos disease diagnosis and you or a family member worked at any EFH site, you definitely should file a claim. But even if you are healthy, you should file a claim if an EFH site is part of your or a family member’s work history because otherwise your legal rights will be lost.

All EFH site employees and contractors are at risk of having been exposed to asbestos. It would be prudent to file an asbestos claim now while you can. You have everything to lose and much to possibly gain should you be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma in the future.

After that December 14 deadline passes, you will no longer be able to file a claim even if you become ill with an asbestos-related illness caused by past exposure at an EFH power plant.

To keep your right to compensation, you must submit an asbestos claim by the December 14 deadline. A qualified asbestos attorney can file the claim for you. He or she can help you with the documentation you will need to verify you or a family member worked at a power plant. At Kazan Law, we do not charge any fee for this service unless and until we get you money.

Asbestos Claims Cut-Off Part of Bankruptcy Deal

Asbestos claims against EFH will be invalid after the December 14, 2015 deadline as part of a bankruptcy deal created for this very large privately owned power plant company, its subsidiaries and the people who financed it.

EFH owns, operates, maintains, and built many power plants across the United States and others all over the world.

Because of the heat-resistant quality of asbestos, asbestos insulation was widely used in power plants built before 1980. But the toxicity of asbestos was already well-established at that time and less dangerous substitutes were available.

Asbestos Claims Potential Prompts Bankruptcy Efforts to Escape Responsibility

Asbestos claims against EFH have already resulted from workers being exposed to asbestos at numerous power plants around the US.

The company declared bankruptcy last spring along with about 70 of its affiliates. The petition listed assets of $36.5 billion and debt totaling $49.7 billion.

Companies which are likely to be liable for many asbestos claims often file for bankruptcy as a way to avoid paying large settlements to people whose lives they have destroyed.

As part of EFH’s bankruptcy, everyone who is currently ill with an asbestos-related illness and everyone who may develop asbestos-related illness must submit a claim by December 14, 2015, at 5 PM, Eastern Time to be eligible for compensation in the future. EFH is required to publish notices about this deadline in newspapers. Although they are also required to directly contact former employees and others, many people who get their news from television or the internet instead of newspapers may miss the deadline for filing asbestos claims.

Why Asbestos Claims Must Be Filed Even If You’re Not Ill

Asbestos claims typically may be filed up to a year after you are diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease. Not in this case. If you already have been diagnosed, you should immediately consult an asbestos attorney about filing a claim. Even if you have not been diagnosed you should file an asbestos claim if you or a family member worked at a power plant.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the EPA have determined that asbestos is a human carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure. An estimated 10,000 Americans die every year from preventable asbestos-caused diseases.

Asbestos fibers can be 700 times smaller than a human hair. Some asbestos can be seen as dust but asbestos fibers can also be invisible to the human eye. You can’t see it. It is also odorless, tasteless and indestructible.

Asbestos fibers do not evaporate into air or dissolve in water. Microscopic asbestos fibers and particles can remain suspended in the air for a long time.

You could easily have inhaled asbestos fibers without knowing it either at work yourself or from the clothing, tools, car or hair of a family member who worked at an EFH site.

Once asbestos fibers are inhaled, they can cause fatal damage to the body’s vital organs and initiate cancer. Mesothelioma, for example, is a lethal cancer of the cells lining the lungs and other organs. It is caused only by exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma can emerge anywhere from ten to 50 years after asbestos exposure.

So if you or a family member ever worked at an EFH site, be sure to file a claim before December 14. Have this done professionally by a qualified asbestos attorney, so you can have peace of mind that it was done correctly. Your future may depend on it.

Deciding which law firm should represent you in your mesothelioma lawsuit is one of the most important decisions you will make about your family’s financial future. Compensation for mesothelioma, which is caused by asbestos exposure, can run from the hundreds of thousands into the millions. An experienced asbestos law firm can have an enormous positive impact on your family’s financial future.

Where Should You Look for a Trustworthy Mesothelioma Law Firm?

It may make sense to start with Internet research when you are looking for a mesothelioma law firm. The results you get may be deceiving, however. Sites that look like impartial resources from non-profit organization may be designed to lure you to a particular law firm or, worse yet, a legal case broker. Case brokers perform lead generation campaigns in search of mesothelioma claimants. These case brokers do not represent plaintiffs in court but instead turn the handling of the lawsuit over to the firm that pays them the highest fee for the business. In short, case brokers sell cases to the highest bidder; they do not always place a case with the law firm that is the best qualified to represent you. And if a law firm knowingly and purposefully hides its identity behind a .org website designed to appear to be a charity or cancer support website, the firm is attempting to lure prospective clients in without fully disclosing their intentions. In either instance, you have to ask yourself if this is really the law firm you want to trust with your mesothelioma lawsuit.

Directories of mesothelioma lawyers like those provided by FindLaw may be a good place to start, but a law firm’s search engine or directory rankings aren’t necessarily a sign of the firm’s effectiveness in winning compensation for people suffering from mesothelioma. You should research the background of all the firms you are interested in thoroughly before making a choice.

It may seem like common sense to choose a lawyer whose office is located near you, but that may not be the best way to pick a mesothelioma lawyer. There is no legal requirement that your lawyer be located in the same city or even the same state as you. If you have the whole country to choose from, wouldn’t you prefer to have one of the nation’s top mesothelioma law firms handling your case? Most asbestos lawyers will come to you, so you won’t incur travel expenses if you work with a law firm in another city.

If a firm contacts you or cold calls you after your mesothelioma diagnosis, it may be tempting to just say yes and let that firm represent you. The same warning applies in this case that would apply with any firm you consider: carefully check the firm’s background to make sure they have a top-notch record of asbestos litigation. Chances are, if they are cold-calling to look for clients, they may not be the best choice to handle your mesothelioma lawsuit.

Identifying Good Qualities in a Mesothelioma Law Firm

In choosing a mesothelioma law firm, you want to work with people who understand what you’re going through and have both compassion and experience. You also want a bulldog in your corner: a lawyer who is dedicated to fighting corporate criminals who place profits ahead of people’s health.

When you get to the point of calling a law firm for a consultation, here are a few red flags that may signal that the lawyer on the other end of the line is not your best choice:

• Promises: If a lawyer tells you that he or she can guarantee you a certain amount of money or a certain outcome for your case, watch out. Ethical lawyers know that no outcome can be guaranteed and will talk to you about probabilities, not promises.
• Money up front: If a law firm asks you to pay a fee up front before they take your case, look for a different firm. Reputable mesothelioma firms will handle your case on a contingency fee basis, which means that you don’t owe any money unless they are able to win compensation for you. The last thing you need is legal bills piling up on top of your medical bills.
• Impatience: A lawyer who tries to rush you through your consultation and isn’t willing to take the time to answer your questions may be too busy to give your case the time and attention it deserves.
• Non-responsiveness: If a firm doesn’t return your call or respond to your email within a day or two, that’s a sign that they may be disorganized. Poor time management is anathema to good legal representation.

When it comes to asbestos litigation, size matters to a point. A lawyer who practices alone probably won’t have the resources you need. A small firm with a stellar record of winning mesothelioma cases may do a better job than a large firm with offices all over the country. The best asbestos firms of any size employ top-notch mesothelioma lawyers and experienced asbestos investigators, who help their attorneys, build the case against the corporations responsible for your asbestos exposure.

Kazan Law: Recognition of Achievement in Mesothelioma Law

In 2013, Kazan Law was named one of the top 15 plaintiff’s asbestos law firms by the US Chamber of Commerce. That same year, the firm was recognized by the National Law Journal as having one of the top 100 verdicts of the year for a $27 million verdict in a mesothelioma case.

In 2015, eight of Kazan’s lawyers were named to the Super Lawyers list, which recognizes lawyers who are outstanding in their practice areas. Many of its lawyers have been selected for years, and the two senior attorneys, Steven Kazan and David McClean, have each been chosen Super Lawyers every year since 2004.

More importantly, however, Kazan Law has a 40 year history of fighting hard to achieve fair compensation for clients with mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases. We handle many lawsuits, but you only have one, so we give each case our utmost attention.

If you want to discuss your case or you have more questions about how to choose a mesothelioma lawyer, please feel free to contact Kazan Law.

If you have recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may feel overwhelmed by the medical and legal information you need to absorb. Here are the basics you will need to know to get started with your mesothelioma lawsuit.

Finding a Lawyer for Your Mesothelioma Lawsuit

Serious health problems related to asbestos exposure were first reported in the 1930s. Despite their knowledge of the danger this posed for the people who worked and lived with these products, many corporations continued to use asbestos in their products Because so many people have suffered from the toxic effects of asbestos exposure, including mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases, the judicial system has created processes to streamline asbestos litigation.

The first, and perhaps the most important, step in filing a mesothelioma lawsuit is finding the right lawyer to represent you. An experienced lawyer is a crucial asset to help you recover the compensation to which you are entitled. You don’t have to choose an attorney with an office near your home; you can even work with a mesothelioma lawyer based in a different state. It’s a good idea to research your choice and work with a law firm that has a track record of winning settlements and verdicts for clients with mesothelioma.

Once you have found a trustworthy asbestos firm, your attorneys will do most of the work so you can focus on taking care of your health and spending precious time with your family. Your lawyer may request information from you, but most of the lawsuit process will move forward without much input from you.

Mesothelioma Lawsuit Process

The first step to filing a mesothelioma lawsuit is to determine where you were exposed to asbestos. Your lawyer will ask you for a list of all the places you have worked, since mesothelioma may take several decades to manifest after asbestos exposure. Some people were exposed to asbestos outside of the workplace, perhaps through the contaminated clothing of a spouse who worked with asbestos or because of asbestos building materials in their homes.

Your attorney will file suit against all the parties who could be responsible for your asbestos exposure. Early in this process, both sides will begin the discovery process. The defendants will request copies of your medical records and your attorney will request documentation about asbestos use from the defendants. The defendants will take your deposition, where you will answer questions under oath in front of a court reporter but not a judge. Your attorney will be at your side to support you and guide you through your deposition. The defendants will also be deposed.

Some defendants may try to convince the court that they are not responsible for your illness. Companies may argue that you could not have been exposed to asbestos at their location. They may claim that your mesothelioma was caused by a past history of exposure to someone else’s asbestos products, or that smoking or other health problems meant you were already injured, or couldn’t work even before the mesothelioma.. An experienced mesothelioma attorney will know how to counter these arguments.

Other defendants may accept their liability and begin settlement discussions soon after your lawsuit is filed, in an effort to minimize their legal fees. It is not unusual for claimants in mesothelioma lawsuits to begin to receive settlement funds within just a few months after the lawsuit is filed.

If a defendant is unwilling to settle, your case may go to trial. This is unusual. Over 80 percent of lawsuits settle before trial.

While mesothelioma plaintiffs receive expedited trial schedules because of the severity of their illness, the trial process can stretch to a year or more. If the defendant appeals the trial verdict, this can prolong the process even further.

Although trials can be expensive and time-consuming and there is no guarantee of a positive outcome, verdicts can result in greater compensation for plaintiffs than negotiated settlements. Kazan Law has won verdicts as high as $27 million for mesothelioma claimants.

Filing Your Mesothelioma Lawsuit Claim

Once you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, you have a prescribed window of time within which to file a mesothelioma lawsuit. This is known as the Statute of Limitations. If you don’t file within this window, you will not be able to recover damages for your injuries. The amount of time to file varies in different jurisdictions. In California, you have one year from when asbestos causes you to be unable to work at your usual job. It is important to begin working with a mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after your diagnosis to allow enough time to thoroughly investigate the potential sources of your asbestos exposure and determine the correct parties to sue.

Once again, it is important to work with a reputable and experienced mesothelioma law firm. If your claim is filed incorrectly, you may run out of time and lose your opportunity to recover the compensation you deserve.

In most cases, you have a choice where to file your mesothelioma lawsuit. You don’t have to live in the state where you file. At Kazan Law, we file most of our lawsuits in California because the people who serve on California juries understand the true value of mesothelioma claims.

Each case is different, as each person is different. If you would like to discuss your mesothelioma claim with one of the experienced asbestos lawyers at Kazan Law, please feel free to contact us for a free case evaluation.

Below are answers to the questions we hear most often from people suffering from mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or other asbestos diseases.

What Are My Compensation Options for My Asbestos Injury?

Trust: Some of the companies responsible for exposing people to asbestos have faced so many lawsuits that they have declared bankruptcy. Through the bankruptcy process, they have created asbestos trust funds to compensate people who are currently ill because of asbestos exposure as well as those who become ill in the future. If one or more of the companies responsible for your asbestos exposure has set up an asbestos trust fund, you cannot sue that company but you can apply to the trust for compensation. On the positive side, these companies have acknowledged their liability and The Trusts will pay restitution to people with asbestos diseases without the expense or delay of a trial. On the negative side, asbestos trusts have a finite amount of funding and some pay only a fraction of the award due to each claimant.

Lawsuits: Your lawyer will determine which of the companies that exposed you to asbestos should be named in a lawsuit. Lawsuits can end in settlement before (and sometimes during) trial or in a verdict at the end of a trial.

Settlements: After your lawyer files suit, both sides will begin an exchange of information called the discovery process. More than 80 percent of lawsuits settle during this pre-trial phase. After viewing the evidence against them, defendants often decide that negotiating a settlement is a better option than going through the expense of a trial. Your lawyer will handle almost all the work during this phase of your case and will negotiate settlements, with your approval.

Trial: If one of the defendants in your asbestos lawsuit refuses to negotiate a settlement or doesn’t offer a fair settlement, your case may proceed to trial. The upside of a jury verdict is that a jury may award more compensation than you would have received in a settlement. In addition, juries can include hefty punitive damage awards on top of compensation for your lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering. The downside of a trial is that they can cost a lot in expenses which will come out of your total recovery, there is always a risk that the jury will award less than was offered in settlement, or the jury could even decide in favor of the defense. Even if you do win at trial, the trial process will push back the time frame for you and you family to receive compensation by months or even years.

What is the Process for Filing an Asbestos Lawsuit?

Investigation: When you hire an asbestos law firm to represent you, the first step is to determine all the places where you were exposed to asbestos during your life. Your attorney will ask you for a complete employment history, starting with your first job. The firm’s investigators will research which companies used products containing asbestos and which manufacturers provided those asbestos products. Your attorney will also review your medical history to determine if any other factors could have contributed to your illness and to understand what issues the defendants may bring up in the course of your lawsuit.

Client’s Responsibilities: The good news is that your lawyer can do almost all the intricate detail work on your case. You will only need to appear for your deposition. Your lawyer will accompany you and support you through the deposition. When an in-person meeting is required, your lawyer will travel to you.

Time Frame for Compensation: Plaintiffs with mesothelioma or other asbestos diseases can start receiving payments within several weeks to a few months of filing a claim. Trust fund payments and settlements will come first. If any of the defendants don’t settle and the case goes to trial, money from those parties can take a year or longer.

Compensation Amounts: The amount of compensation you receive will depend on a range of factors, including the severity of your illness, the amount of your economic losses due to your illness, your medical history, and the fiscal health of the companies responsible for your asbestos exposure. Kazan Law has won many settlements for clients that range from the hundreds of thousands of dollars into the millions. We have won verdicts at trial of as much as $27 million.

Why is it Important to Work Only with an Attorney Versed in Asbestos Litigation?

Asbestos Cases are not Personal Injury Cases: There are many attorneys who handle personal injury cases such as car accidents and slip and fall injuries. While mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses are technically personal injuries, asbestos litigation has a specialized set of rules and procedures that are different from other personal injury cases. Because of the high volume of asbestos lawsuits, courts have set up special procedures to streamline these cases. Courts hear mesothelioma cases on an expedited schedule because of the seriousness of this illness.

The Benefit of an Experienced Asbestos Attorney: A general personal injury attorney may not have experience filing asbestos trust claims, investigating asbestos exposure, and bringing the issues around asbestos disease to light during the trial process that will help you get the highest possible compensation. An attorney whose practice centers around asbestos litigation will know the parties involved and understand the procedures that can move your case forward quickly.

Contingency Fees: Good asbestos attorneys will work with you under a contingency fee agreement. This means that you will not be billed for legal fees and expenses. Your lawyer will be compensated by receiving a percentage of any monies you are awarded. If you do not receive compensation, you do not owe your lawyer any money for his or her work.

If you have any other questions or would like further information about filing an asbestos lawsuit, please contact Kazan Law.

Asbestos deaths of a company’s employees resulted in prison sentences for their bosses last week. This is an amazing victory for justice. Sadly it is amazing because it is all too rare that the individuals responsible for causing asbestos deaths of workers are held accountable and punished. More typically if there is a ruling in civil court in favor of those whose lives were destroyed by asbestos exposure; it is a monetary award that will affect only the company’s shareholders. But this time things turned out differently.

Asbestos Deaths of Italian Tire Factory Workers Lead to Manslaughter Charges

The asbestos deaths this time were not just left to be sorted out by the guilty company’s accounting department. This time a court in Milan, Italy, decided that those who committed the crime should do the time, as the saying goes.

The Milan court convicted 11 former managers of the Pirelli tire company, including two former CEOs, on charges of manslaughter. They were all handed prison sentences for causing the deaths of 20 workers who became ill as a result of being exposed to asbestos at the Pirelli factory in Milan where the company has its headquarters.

The court issued sentences up to seven years and eight months against the defendants, who were Pirelli board members during the 1980s. Prosecuting attorneys successfully proved that the workers at the Milan tire factory were not adequately protected against asbestos. The workers’ asbestos deaths are believed to have been caused by asbestos exposure they suffered while working at the company’s factories during the 1970s and 80s.

The court also awarded more than 500,000 Euros ($550,000) in damages to one family and other injured parties. Many families had settled out of court, according to media reports. Families of the victims cheered when the conviction was announced in court. They held banners saying.”We showed that when you are united, you can win”.

Pirelli’s lawyers vowed that they would appeal the court’s decision.

Asbestos Death Conviction in Previous Case Was Overturned

The conviction and sentencing of the Pirelli executives reminds us of the outcry caused by a previous case in which a corporate executive was let off the hook for asbestos deaths. In that case a controversial decision was made by an Italian higher court last November to overturn the conviction and 18-year prison sentence of Stephan Schmidheiny for lack of safety provisions in asbestos cement plants run by Eternit, his family’s now defunct company, during the 1970s and 80s.

He was convicted for being responsible for nearly 3,000 asbestos deaths.

Italy’s top court ruled that Schmidheiny, the heir to a Swiss industrial dynasty, should not have been convicted of causing a health or environmental catastrophe because the verdict came more than 12 years after the crime and the statute of limitation had lapsed for the specific charges.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was quoted as saying that Italy’s “nightmare” criminal statute of limitation rules needed to be changed after Schmidheiny’s conviction was thrown out.

In the US, the statute of limitations is based not on the time of asbestos exposure but from the time of diagnosis or death from an asbestos-caused disease. An asbestos lawsuit can be filed decades after the exposure to asbestos occurred. Statute of limitation laws vary by state but generally, plaintiffs have three years to file a suit following an asbestos-related diagnosis or death.

Asbestos Deaths in Milan May Be Tip of Iceberg

Asbestos deaths at any workplace are inexcusable and horrific. The situation becomes even more horrifying when the offending company is a multinational corporation with many other factories where the same negligence may be occurring. Pirelli, the world’s fifth-largest tire manufacturer behind Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear, is present in over 160 countries, has 19 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers. The 20 asbestos deaths in their home city of Milan may just be the tip of the iceberg. If Pirelli is this heartless about the lives of their fellow Milanese citizens, how can they be relied upon to be more careful with the lives of their workers in other countries?

Pirelli is a venerable company that has been sponsoring sport competitions since 1907and is currently the exclusive tire supplier for the Formula One Championship for 2011-2016 and for the FIM World Superbike Championship. It is reprehensible that a company with such a long history and proud pedigree would exhibit such a disregard for human life. We hope the Italian courts stick with the conviction they handed down this time.