| Despite dangers, a few factories in the North are open
Yona Fertouk, the head of the Histadrut labor union in Upper Galilee, is caught between a rock and a hard place. According to Home Command instructions, everyone living in confrontation line communities must stay in their shelters and safe rooms except for workers in factories and services considered vital to the war effort or those receiving special permission to keep operating. Fertouk is responsible for all workers belonging to the Histadrut in his area, which includes Kiryat Shmona, Hatzor and Safed. On one hand, he is responsible for their safety and well-being. On the other, he is responsible for making sure they have jobs. "What am I supposed to do in this situation?" he asked. "Should I take into account that the factory has to stay afloat so that the workers will have jobs after the fighting is over, or should I think only about the threat to lives now when they go to work? Where do I find the right balance?" All in all, Fertouk has taken a cautious approach.
(AFX UK Focus) 2006-07-27 16:56 GMT: Widow wins $10 million in asbestos suit
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AFX) - A jury awarded $10.4 million to the widow of a former shipyard worker who died of lung cancer after four years of working with materials that contained asbestos. The Newport News Circuit Court verdict in Wanda Jones' wrongful death lawsuit against three companies that manufactured the materials was handed down Wednesday, the first anniversary of the death of 60-year-old Buddy Jones. "It's a mixed day," Wanda Jones said. "At least there's been some justice and recognition for what he went through, certainly through no fault of his own. He just went to work and did what he was trained to do on the job." Her attorney, Robert Hatten, called the verdict a landmark because one-third of the judgment will come from John Crane Inc., which has refused to settle other asbestos cases.
LegalView.com Announces Its New, Free Legal Encyclopedia
LegalView is a new, easy to use, free legal-information resource, for ordinary people seeking information on legal issues and controversies. This new site provides general legal resources such as a legal dictionary and legal encyclopedia, in addition to information about specific legal issues such as mesothelioma and unsafe drugs. Denver, CO (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) July 11, 2006 -- LegalView.com today announces the addition of its new Legal Encyclopedia, based on Cornell University's WEX Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia joins the Legal Dictionary, Legal Directory, and massive legal bookstore as part of a free "everything legal" service bringing legal information and legal resources to ordinary people.
LegalView provides two types of legal information. First, the general legal resources, allowing people to look up legal terms and legal definitions, and to seek legal information through a wide range of legal resources; LegalView's directory includes many thousands of links to useful online resources, for instance, from legal publications and blogs, to lists of expert witnesses and paralegal services.
Personal Injury: Unsafe Territory
By a majority decision, the House clarified the Fairchild Exception and ruled that proportionate damages are payable in mesothelioma claims that fall within the exception. In a separate development, the Government announced on 20 June its proposals to reverse the effect of the Barker decision through an amendment to the draft Compensation Bill.
Balance of probabilities
The overriding principle in the law of tort is that a claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities that a defend-ants conduct caused, or materially contributed to, the loss the claimant has suffered. Once this has been established, defendants are jointly and severally liable for any damages due to the claimant.
However, these principles created problems in cases where a claimant with mesothelioma was negligently exposed to asbestos by a number of employers, and medical science is such that the claimant could not establish precisely when the harmful exposure occurred.
Defense Department Awards Unique Asbestos Destruction Project to A-Conversion, LLC
A-Conversion, LLC, a privately-held New York firm, was given a Department of Defense contract to construct a transportable, modular, asbestos conversion system for field deployment at its installations using the ABCOV Method to destroy its asbestos. The sole-source $1.27 million contract, awarded by the Pentagon's Contracting Command of Excellence, will employ the patented ABCOV Method, a non-thermal, Environmental Protection Agency approved, mechanical-chemical asbestos conversion process, developed by Tony Nocito. "The ABCOV method is an extremely reliable process that has the potential to save taxpayers millions of dollars in future asbestos liabilities," says Nocito. "The development of this transportable, modular asbestos conversion system by the Department of Defense will eliminate the potential danger and costs of transporting asbestos containing materials through their installation's neighborhoods and eliminate the Government's landfill liability," Nocito adds.
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