Law Firm Caught with Hand in Asbestos Cookie Jar

by Sean Hackbarth

If this report from the Wall Street Journal editorial page doesn’t fill you with rage toward unscrupulous trial lawyers you’re a lost cause. Kimberly Strassel writes about how an Ohio law firm got greedy in an asbestos litigation and got caught. We learn these vultures are feeding from any trough they can find:

Harry Kananian died in the year 2000 of mesothelioma–a cancer almost always caused by asbestos. But the legacy that may survive him is the role he is posthumously playing in exposing evidence of asbestos litigation fraud.

In early 2000, the Ohio resident met with the law firm of Early, Ludwick, Sweeney & Strauss to see about collecting compensation from special trusts set up by companies to deal with asbestos liabilities. So the law firm filed a claim to one trust, saying Kananian had worked in a World War II shipyard and was exposed to insulation containing asbestos. It also filed a claim to another trust saying he had been a shipyard welder. A third claim, to another trust, said he’d unloaded asbestos off ships in Japan. And a fourth claim said that he’d worked with “tools of asbestos” before the war. Meanwhile, a second law firm, Brayton Purcell, submitted two more claims to two further trusts, with still different stories. The two firms swept up as much as $700,000 for Kananian and his estate from trusts and settlements.

In the legal trade, this is known as “double dipping”–the process by which lawyers file claims at many different bankruptcy trusts on behalf of a single plaintiff. Each trust is told a different story about how the client got sick, and the plaintiff collects from all of them. Of course, the lawyers collect too. This practice may well have remained unexposed had not Brayton Purcell decided to cash in on Kananian one more time. It sued Lorillard Tobacco, this time claiming its client had become sick from smoking Kent cigarettes, whose filters contained asbestos for several years in the 1950s. That suit has now exploded on Brayton, exposing one of the asbestos bar’s more lucrative cash cows.

It shouldn’t be a shock that mesothelioma and asbestos litigation are some of the most costly terms to buy on internet advertising systems like Google’s AdWords.

“Trusts Busted” [via memorandum]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Law. You can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Law Firm Caught with Hand in Asbestos Cookie Jar”

That’s pretty disgusting. Glad they got nailed.

Posted by Matt on December 7th, 2006

On January 9, 2007, the Wall Street Journal published a letter by our law firm, Brayton Purcell, responding to their article. This is the text of our letter.

A Death by Mesothelioma
January 9, 2007; Page B10

In response to the Dec. 5 editorial-page commentary “Trusts Busted” by Kimberley Strassel: In June of 2000, Harry Kananian died of mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs, caused only by past exposure to asbestos fibers. Prior to his death, a personal injury lawsuit was filed on his behalf in California.

A number of companies that made or sold asbestos-containing products were named as defendants, including Lorillard Tobacco Co.

During the pendency of the California asbestos personal injury case, Mr. Kananian’s attorneys also submitted a number of claims to several bankruptcy trusts based on Mr. Kananian’s probable past exposure to asbestos-containing products manufactured or sold by the bankrupt companies.

His personal injury case in California terminated by law upon his death. Thereafter a wrongful death case was filed in California and later re-filed in Ohio on behalf of his heirs. Lorillard Tobacco was again named as a defendant in these wrongful death actions.

The allegations leveled against the defendant companies, including Lorillard, in both California and Ohio have been entirely consistent. At all times, plaintiffs have asserted that it was the cumulative dose of asbestos inhaled by Mr. Kananian from all sources that caused his mesothelioma.

Lorillard, in conscious disregard for the health and safety of its customers, incorporated a particularly lethal form of asbestos fiber into its Kent “Micronite” cigarette filters from 1952-1956.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kananian switched to Kent after hearing and seeing that Lorillard’s advertising touted the health benefits of Kent cigarettes over other brands. As a consequence he inhaled lethal quantities of asbestos fiber each time he smoked a Kent cigarette between 1952-1956.

Because medically and legally the actual asbestos fibers that contributed to cause Mr. Kananain’s mesothelioma cannot be individually identified, Mr. Kananian (and his family after his death) as well as other persons injured by asbestos exposure are entitled to seek damages from all of the probable sources of their asbestos exposure.

Seeking damages from all of the companies who profited from the sale of this deadly material is not “double dipping,” but rather is entirely proper under our system of civil jurisprudence to ensure full and complete compensation for injuries or death caused by an individual’s cumulative past exposure to asbestos.

The bankruptcy claims submitted by Brayton Purcell in the Kananian matter contained accurate information regarding Mr. Kananian’s past exposure to asbestos insulation products made Johns Manville, the bankrupt entity involved.

To the extent that the claim form originally submitted to the Manville Trust contained some minor inaccuracies, the bulk of the information provided in the form was accurate. An amended claim form was submitted to the Manville trust only to ensure that these minor mistakes were corrected.

Neither the Manville Trust nor any other bankruptcy trust has requested return of the payments previously made to the Kananian family. No objection or protest has been lodged by these trusts in connection with either the original or amended claim forms submitted in this matter.

Mr. Kananian’s family members are entitled to this compensation because of his probable past exposure to these bankrupt companies’ asbestos containing products, his subsequent contraction of an asbestos caused cancer and his death from that disease.

I would hope the Journal could be more concerned with compensation of innocent people unwittingly exposed and injured by this deadly material rather than leveling unfounded allegations that somehow the attorneys representing these victims are trying to “double dip.”

Mark B. Abelson
San Francisco
(Mr. Abelson is an attorney representing Brayton Purcell.)

Posted by Laura Blatt on January 12th, 2007