General Motors Corporation creditors recently won permission to seek data concerning asbestos exposure and claims.  Yesterday in New York City, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber agreed to let unsecured creditors see the previously private information.  

In May, Gerber extended GM's control over its liquidation until this fall in order to settle asbestos and environmental liabilities.  According to court documents, small encapsulated amounts of asbestos were found in the brake linings of some of GM's vehicles.

The GM estate currently has $648 million recorded for asbestos claims, and a committee of creditors believe they could see this number increase by five to ten times.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of asbestos exposure, contact the Asbestos exposure lawyers of Williams Kherkher LLP at 800-781-3955 to learn more about your rights. 

The state of Connecticut has approved $2.3 million dollars to remove asbestos from its Brownfield sites.  The money is being distributed between six Connecticut municipalities for both commercial and residential sites.  Funds are being given by the Municipal Brownfield Pilot Program established in 2006.  Authorities believe that cleaning these sites will not only protect Connecticut residents but also provide for more housing, commercial, and recreational development.  

Hartford, Madison, Meriden, Naugatuck, Putnam, and Waterbury are the municipalities that will receive state funding.  The majority of asbestos cleanup will be in Madison.  Old buildings like the Brownfield sites require asbestos removal before they can be demolished or renovated.  

If you or someone you know has suffered due to asbestos exposure, contact the Asbestos exposure attorneys of Williams Kherkher at 800-781-3955 to learn more about your rights. 

In the next decade, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to completely ban the use of asbestos in the United States.  

The ban will be a two stage phasing out of the use of asbestos.  The first stage will begin on July 1, 2015 with regulations being instated to no longer use asbestos as a sealing material in construction projects.  Five years later, the second stage will ban all use of asbestos in tiles, linings, and extruded cement panels.  

In 1989, the EPA ordered a ban on almost all asbestos containing products, however this was repealed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and changed to only ban six asbestos containing products.

If the EPA's plans work out they could significantly reduce the risk of developing an asbestos-related disease like mesothelioma.   

If you or someone you love has been injured due to asbestos exposure, contact the asbestos lawsuit attorneys of Williams Kherkher LLP at 800-781-3955 to learn more about your rights.

Boston fire officials and police are asking people to avoid a block of Harrison Avenue after the cleaning of asbestos dust was unsuccessful.  

Last week, crews working at the site of a steam pipe explosion used a U-Haul truck to carry away asbestos dust exposed debris.  A fire inspector called the operations off because he believed something more secure was necessary to remove asbestos exposed debris.  

As the cleanup of the explosion continues, traffic on Harrison Ave. will be closed.  The cleanup will include washing building exteriors and sidewalks, and sweeping and double-bagging debris to be stored in secure containers at a nearby parking lot.   

The block of Harrison Ave. that will be closed is between Traveler Street and William Mullins Way. 

If you or someone you love has suffered from asbestos exposure, contact the Asbestos lawyers of Williams Kherkher LLP at 800-781-3955 to learn more about your rights. 

David Chesser, a firefighter from Beaumont, Texas, recently returned to work after suffering from mesothelioma for the past fourteen months. 

Unfortunately, firefighters are often exposed to mesothelioma-causing airborne asbestos particles on the job.  Also, while treatments like surgery or chemotherapy can help mesothelioma, mesothelioma does not have a cure.  

While fighting mesothelioma, Chesser was promoted to district fire chief but was unable to be there, so his wife stood in for him.  Now, after fourteen months of treatment Chesser returned to the job he loves and stated, "I wanted to be back with these guys.  I didn't want the cancer to make me quit my job".

If you or someone you love has been affected by mesothelioma, contact the mesothelioma lawyers of Williams Kherkher LLP at 800-781-3955 to learn more about your rights.