Possibly Most Dangerous Video to Produce…Ever

September 10th, 2010. By AbiK

I have to believe this video was one of the most dangerous ever created. Worse than even those swimming-with-the-sharks videos—after all, the danger there is clear and present. With this, it’s more insidious—and no one had a crystal ball to clue folks into the dangers that would be with asbestos exposure.

I’ve watched this video—Asbestos A Matter of Time—originally created by the Bureau of Mines – US Department of the Interior in 1959—numerous times. The music and voiceover harken back to those classic made-for-schoolkids videos many of us endured in the ’60’s, ’70’s and ’80’s—only those were usually talking about the dangers of forest fires, marijuana, or some birds-n-bees thing.

No, this little gem talks about that wonder mineral, asbestos.

Obviously, we now know (though perhaps our northerly neighbors up in Canada didn’t get the memo) that asbestos is some pretty bad stuff—highly toxic and carcinogenic. But back in the life-is-good ’50’s, asbestos was the jack-of-all-trades ingredient in roofing, flooring, insulation…just look at the video (and yes, it’s a bit lengthy). See the cord on the iron? The little boy playing with his train? Why, asbestos was almost as important to daily living as the very air everyone breathed!

But the most alarming part of this—aside from wondering about the ultimate health of the camera guy—is that the asbestos miners aren’t wearing any protective inhalation gear. The video talks about “safety”, but who knew back then that just bringing home some asbestos fibers on your clothes for your devoted wife to wash could result in her getting asbestos mesothelioma?

We’ve come a long way, baby—that’s for sure. And let’s hope Canada joins us at some point. Soon.

Abestos Disease tops for Worker Deaths in British Columbia

September 9th, 2010. By LucyC

You would think in this day and age that some common sense would prevail when it comes to the production and dissemination of carcinogenic materials. To be clear, I’m defining common sense as meaning erring on the side of caution, and if the substances are really lethal—not producing them at all… 

Not so, according to a new report released by Canadian health officials. The report apparently states that diseases related to asbestos are now the leading cause of workplace death in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC). This is the kind of news you might expect to hear coming out of India, Pakistan, China, even the Canadian province of Quebec, where the infamous Jeffrey asbestos mine—among the largest open pit asbestos mine in the world—is currently fighting for its financial life. (And it looks as if the federal and provincial governments are going to support it—all in the name of  job creation—where—in the funeral business?) 

Back to BC. According to a report by The Vancouver Sun, a BC-based newspaper, “WorkSafe BC documents some 50 asbestos-related workplace deaths annually, but the true toll is far higher, as agency statistics only cover workers who have filed compensation claims. 

‘Among BC workers alone, it is estimated that 1,500 workers will die from asbestos- Read the rest of this entry »

Take My Mother-in-Law, Please! (Lawsuit vs Comic Tossed)

September 8th, 2010. By janem

 

Well, comedian Sunda Croonquist likely had the last laugh—all the way to the bank! She’s almost a household name these days after being sued by her in-laws for spreading “false, defamatory and racist lies” (see the video above to make your own opinion). I’d never heard of her before Ruth Zafrin, the mother-in-law, demanded a cash settlement for her “pain and suffering.” Anyway, U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper threw the suit out of New Jersey’s U.S. District Court April 30^th.

Croonquist alleged that Zafrin joined the action just to keep the issue out of Federal Court (where it landed because Croonquist lives in California and her in-laws live in New York and New Jersey). The stated causes of action included: false light, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and unjust enrichment.

Her sister-in-law, Shelley Edelman, and her husband Neil (the brother of Croonquist’s husband, Mark Zafrin) were first to sue over the comedian’s schtick—which revolves around jokes about their heritage and her own–claiming Shelley is a racist. ( In her New Jersey accent: “Oh my God, Neil, look at her. She’s got light eyes and light hair, what kind of black person is she?”) And, “My sister-in-law’s voice sounds like a cat in heat.” (Croonquist is half African-American and half Swedish.)

Fortunately for Croonquist, Judge Mary Cooper had a better sense of humor than the in-laws and found the cat in heat comment to be “mere colorful, figurative rhetoric that reasonable minds would not take to be factual”. Cooper held that Croonquist’s jokes are Read the rest of this entry »

Man Impersonates Sheriff for 911 Towel Service

September 7th, 2010. By LucyC

Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal stories making news—and there’s certainly no shortage of them.

Hotel 911. I like this guy. Demonstrating a finely tuned sense of humor, I would say, a homeless man in Portland, Oregon made himself at home in a suburban homeowner’s hot tub for about 10 hours. Long enough to get good and wrinkly, and cold. So Mark Eskelsen called 911 and requested delivery of some towels, hot chocolate, and a hug. Ok—that’s my line in the sand.

But Eskelsen, obviously smart enough to know that an upfront request for these items would likely be met with any number of disadvantageous responses, identified himself as the sheriff of Washington County, when he called 911 from his cell phone. Cell phone? He must pay a fortune in roaming charges…(oh—was that a groan I heard?) And he asked for medical help. “I just need a hug and a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.” Seems reasonable to me.

Not so to the police, who could have spent their time catching the real bad guys. They arrested Eskelsen for second-degree criminal trespassing and improper use of 911. What is this thing with 911?

Texting for Tokes? And a little more insanity. There is a school of thought that says teenagers have no common sense, and after reading this story, I have to agree. A 16-year old in Montana texted, accidentally (??), the local sheriff asking if he could buy some Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the “Bad” in Bad Faith Insurance?

September 7th, 2010. By Kristine B

You’ve probably seen the commercials on tv: an actor—say Dennis Haysbert—walks around talking about how “his” insurance company (that would be Allstate) is his best friend…how it has his back in a bad situation…how it has bent over backwards to help him in his time of need…and, damn if he doesn’t sound so sincere! Or you’ve seen Flo–the Progressive Insurance girl–making it sound like no way no how would Progressive ever—EVER!—give you a lousy rate. No siree—Flo ensures us that buying insurance is as easy as ordering a Whopper with cheese, hold the pickles—thanks.

But, when it comes time to file an actual claim—when a real person needs real help from a real insurance company, all of a sudden it seems like there are a million reasons why the company won’t pay out a claim. Sometimes, that leads to claims of bad faith insurance—today’s Pleading Ignorance topic.

Before we get to that, though, the obligatory “not every denied claim is a legitimate claim” spiel. It’s true that insurance companies have to protect themselves from fraudsters and people out to make a quick buck off an accident. There are people who see an accident—real or faked—as a way to make easy money. This, of course, puts the honest people at a disadvantage. Why? Because they’re dealing with insurance companies that a) want to make as much profit as possible and b) have to unfortunately protect themselves from fraudsters who see the insurance companies as personal ATM’s.

The mix of profitability and self-protection can lead to claims of bad faith insurance.

So, what is bad faith insurance? You’ve probably heard of it before, because the companies that are accused of practicing it are often large insurance corporations—so it gets airtime in the news. Bad faith insurance occurs when an insurance company denies legitimate claims for illegitimate reasons.

Here’s the thing: When you buy an insurance policy to protect yourself or your family and you pay into it faithfully, with the full expectation that if you should ever need it, the policy will cover you, the insurance companies are required, by law, to pay out your legitimate claims.

Of course, it all looks good on paper—just like that insurance policy!—but when it comes down to it, some insurance companies use all sorts of tactics to avoid paying claims.

They might stall on the claim by forcing you to send in excessive amounts of paperwork—or they may claim to have found “mistakes” in the paperwork you’ve sent in. By stalling, they may push back the time your claim is received so that your claim is no longer valid. They might retroactively cancel your insurance policy—in effect waiting until you make a claim then deciding you shouldn’t have had the policy to begin with. They might find their own medical examiners who overrule your own doctor’s diagnosis. They might reclassify your illness or your claim and state that you should be able to work when you really cannot. Or they may classify a seemingly standard lab test as outpatient surgery requiring precertification that, of course, you did not get. The list of possibilities is endless.

Some insurance companies might target specific claims for denial; these claims might include anyone who claims Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. People making those claims might automatically have their claims denied or may be required to send in additional paperwork to support their claim.

The bottom line is that “bad faith insurance” occurs any time that a legitmate claim that you’ve paid insurance premiums to be covered for is denied or delayed without sound reason. And, if you’ve found yourself in that position and have gone through the proper channels of contacting the insurance company and requesting that your claim be reprocessed or you’ve filed an appeal with the insurer to no avail, you may want to get some legal help.