After learning that 14 percent of children in Erie County – 1 out of every 7 – tested positive for lead poisoning, New York’s attorney general is earmarking $346,825 in lawsuit settlement money toward local lead prevention and remediation.
Young children in Western New York suffer from the highest rate of lead poisoning in the upstate region – a rate that’s more than three times higher than that in Flint, Mich., where a cost-driven switch to an alternate water system left 4 percent of children tested with signs of lead exposure.
The court, in a ruling that came just weeks after the case was heard, upheld the company’s criminal convictions and dismissed its suggestion that the lower court overstepped its bounds in ordering it to pay for the public health study.
The appeals court also upheld a $12.5 million fine against the company.
A national environmental group whose goal is to outlaw the use of asbestos said Thursday that asbestos-related deaths in three Western New York counties are far above the national average.
Before taking on several cases for former Durez Plastics workers exposed to asbestos, attorney Michael Ponterio had never seen this type of ploy by an insurance company in these matters.
The jury in Justice Deborah Chimes’ courtroom determined that the John Crane Inc. caused the death of 65-year-old William R. Voelker, who died on Christmas Day in 2013 – just four months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer.
With a grandfather and father who graduated from Buffalo Law School and went on to be lawyers, John Lipsitz had no intention of following in their footsteps. Though he lacked interest in law growing up, he attended UB Law School. After graduating, he received a job representing inmates at prisons across New York State for […]
Lipsitz & Ponterio partner John P. Comerford appeared on AM Buffalo on September 25, 2013. Mr. Comerford discussed the health hazards and history of asbestos exposure in Western New York.
An Erie County jury delivered a verdict in favor of the family of Lee Bernard Holdsworth in the amount of $ 3 million dollars. Mr. Holdsworth was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2012 and died on January 17, 2013, in the care of Hospice of Buffalo. He is survived by his wife of over fifty years, three children and ten grandchildren.
OSHA cited Ford for eight “serious” violations of the agency’s asbestos and respiratory protection standards at its Route 5 plant, which produces stamped metal parts for vehicles. Ford faces $41,800 in proposed fines.
A Buffalo, New York, jury returned guilty verdicts on 14 of the 19 criminal charges against Tonawanda Coke for violating the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
An Erie County jury delivered a verdict in favor of the family of Gerald Suttner in the amount of $3 million dollars. Mr. Sutter was diagnosed with mesothelioma in October 2010 and died on October 31, 2011.
After a one week trial presided over by New York Supreme Court Justice (retired) Hon. John P. Lane, J.H.O., a settlement in excess of $2,500,000.00 was obtained for a former Durez plant worker who was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2011.
The production and refining of coal tar and its use in various other products involves a substantial risk of exposure to a group of chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Exposure to these substances can lead to a variety of diseases, including lung and other respiratory cancers, bladder cancer and skin cancer.
After a two week trial, an Erie County jury delivered a verdict in favor of Gerald Failing in the amount of $2 million dollars. Mr. Failing was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in December 2010. He was represented by Lipsitz & Ponterio attorney Michael A. Ponterio, Esq.