[strawman]

I need two things here: Help with what to do about my case itself, and opinions about whether my lawyer is advising me correctly.

My husband worked for a company for 23 years and then retired. The work involved a lot of chemicals. A few years after he retired he got cancer. He spoke to another person who worked at the same place that also has cancer. That person’s doctor told him it was directly related to the chemicals that they worked with. My husband got a lawyer and started a legal suit. My husband has passed away but he told me to pursue this.

My lawyer had filed to get some information from them in the discovery process and they are giving excuses like “we can’t find that information” (in reference to the request for MSDS sheets). Also, “we don’t know this person, we have no record of what he did”; since he worked there for 23 years leading teams, and the fact that I worked there for several years myself, we know there are detailed records of what he did and the large number of chemicals he worked with. Not to mention that these records are required by Cal-Osha to be kept for thirty years.

My lawyer said he has never been treated this way in the discovery process. They scheduled a deposition and then refused the information, and the deposition could not go forward. My lawyer feels they are trying to hide or cover something, and so do I at this point.

In addition, we have found out that there are quite a few people sick with cancer and several doctors that say it is related to the chemicals they work with. Because I feel that the people still working there are in danger that they are unaware of, it seems that this should be escalated to some kind of class action suit.

However, my lawyer has filed this as a workers compensation suit and has told me that certain laws prevent him from filing this as a class action suit. He also stated that employees cannot sue their employers for situations like this as a class action suit; only as individual suits. Is that correct? Or does that only apply to a workmens comp suit?

Is it possible that workmen’s comp is the wrong place for this suit? Is there some other kind of suit we should be filing? My lawyer has tried to be clear with me on this, but because he has said to me that he isn’t big enough to handle a class action suit, I have to wonder if he is giving me advice that is better for himself, instead of what should be done here.

I understand that you can’t give much advice without all the details but I need second opinions and knowledge here and I don’t know where to start. Where can I go for additional information about this stuff? I feel a little lost right now.

Any information or insight will be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

How would it be better for him to file this matter as a woriker's comp case, as opposed to a class action (if we assume it is even possible)? The worker's compensation system is for resolving individual claims; it's not a class action system.

If you think there's a class action lurking somewhere behind the worker's comp case, consult a law firm that handles class action lawsuits for an evaluation.

[strawman]

When we started this whole process we contacted a large firm that is well known for their class action lawsuits. It took them three months to actually respond to my phone calls and when they did they told me they had given this to my current lawyer.

I was talking class action to him all along but he stated that if it was a class action suit that he was not big enough and didn’t have the experience for that and would have to go back to the original firm (this was the first clue that I had that he didn’t actually work directly for the firm that I had contacted, which no one actually came out and told me). He stated that, in any case, filing the workmens comp was the first step.

Keep in mind, I have told him repeatedly that I have names and contact info for quite a few people who are sick or have passed away from this cancer. It is also my understanding that several different doctors who had cancer patients that worked at this company are saying it was directly related to the chemicals they were working with.

Because it was a workmens comp issue, he said he would be happy to speak with them if they called him but he would not contact them himself. I did not understand that class action and workmens comp are completely separate issues because I was told that this was the first step in pursuing the lawsuit that I was trying to bring (I thought it was clear that I was pursuing a class action). Only now do I see that these are completely separate issues, that we are not pursuing a class action, and why I am now worried that my lawyer is doing what is best for him, because that is where his experience lies.

I wouldn’t be so upset if the original firm had assessed the suit and said they couldn’t make a class action suit for whatever reasons, but no one has discussed that with me at any point. They simply had this lawyer contact me, and he said that workmens comp was the first step for what we wanted to do.

Having no experience with something like this at all, I took him at his word. I thought that if we talked to people and got them to call the lawyer that someone would see that people are in danger here and are in fact sick with cancer. But now it seems he is looking for individual people for workmens comp suits, not creating a class action.

What should I do at this point? Am I wrong in believing this should be a class action because of all the people involved? If someone had told me that this was not a viable case as class action then so be it. But I have not had that conversation with anyone. I suspect that the firm I contacted originally was too busy and simply referred the case away, and this guy has just gone with what he knows; four years of experience with smaller suits.

I guess at this point I need to contact other major firms because it seems that they have not steered me in the right direction. Is that correct? Or do you think I am just not understanding the process and their strategy? I am not competent enough in all this to be sure what’s going on.

Thanks again for all your time.