A Personal Note From Patrick J. Bartels
"I have and will continue to help victims of asbestos disease in any way I can. I am happy to speak to anyone who has a question about this topic. Please don't hesitate to contact me. And if you need a lawyer to represent you, it would be my privilege to do whatever can be done on your behalf." - Patrick J. Bartels, Esq.
My name is Patrick Bartels, and I have been practicing law for 25 years. I have devoted a large part of my legal career to representing victims of asbestos disease. Since 1992 I have represented hundreds of individuals, from boilermakers to brake mechanics, from wives who were exposed to asbestos dust on their husband's clothing, to most tragically, children whose fathers unknowingly exposed them to asbestos dust. My clients worked at numerous sites throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, including the Johns Manville Plant in Manville, New Jersey; American Cyanamid in Bound Brook, New Jersey; National Lead in Sayreville, New Jersey; the PSE&G sites, refineries such as Hess, Exxon and Chevron, GAF, Penske in Linden, New Jersey, the World Trade Center, the Prudential Building, JFK Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Bristol Myers Squibb in New Brunswick, New Jersey; Ciba Geigy in Toms River, New Jersey, J.T. Baker in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and countless more sites. My clients suffered from asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Although my staff is not as large as some of the bigger, out-of-state firms that pursue asbestos cases in New Jersey, what we lack in numbers we make up for in quality and tenacity. I have represented boilermakers, brake mechanics, plumbers, pipefitters, HVAC technicians, and oil furnace technicians, and I have achieved some of the largest asbestos and mesothelioma verdicts in New Jersey's history, including several million dollar verdicts. It is my belief that these case achievements are a direct result of how we operate our practice. We do not "bundle" cases together and settle with defendants; our firm handles each case individually to ensure that each client receives the appropriate amount of attention. This also allows us to allocate the proper amount of resources to each asbestos and mesothelioma case to ensure maximum recovery.
My legal career began in the Air Force, where I served as a Judge Advocate General. After my Honorable Discharge, I became a prosecutor in Middlesex County for three years. I have tried more than 100 cases, an experience that is invaluable to my clients today. Additionally, I have received an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell* and have been honored with a selection to the New Jersey Super Lawyers list.
I began litigating asbestos and mesothelioma cases in 1992 when I was offered a position at the prestigious firm of Garruto Galex & Cantor. Although I had from time to time read about asbestos, I really had no knowledge about it until I began working for GG&C. What I learned shocked me.
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I learned that asbestos is a mineral that is mined from ore deposits throughout the world. Countries such as the United States, Australia and South Africa at one time maintained large working asbestos mines. Canada still actively mines asbestos. There are several different types of asbestos fiber including chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite and tremolite. All types of asbestos fiber are capable of causing damage to the lung, and can lead to asbestosis, lung cancer and a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma.
For many years, asbestos was incorporated in many different kinds of products because of its heat-resistant properties. Raw asbestos was mined and milled into very small particles and shipped in burlap or paper bags to manufacturing facilities such as the Johns Manville plant in Manville, New Jersey. At these manufacturing plants, the asbestos particles, or fibers, were mixed into various recipes that were then made into products such as pipe insulation, insulating cement, gaskets, firewalls, electrical wire insulation, brake linings, brake clutches, aprons, ironing board covers, mailbags, heating elements in hair dryers, roofing shingles, siding, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, Christmas decorations such as artificial snow as well as many, many more everyday products.
These finished asbestos products were sold to the public without appropriate labels warning the consumer about the hazards of breathing in asbestos-containing dust. The problem with asbestos fiber is that if the product is used in such a way as to create dust, the asbestos fibers, millions of them, are released into the air, where they remain for an extended period of time. Because the asbestos dust is virtually invisible, the worker or consumer is unaware that he is breathing millions of asbestos fibers into his lungs. Once the asbestos fibers get into the lungs, the body begins to attack the asbestos fibers, causing scar tissue to develop in and around the areas where the asbestos fibers have been deposited. Over time, diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma may develop.
For decades, the Asbestos industry was aware that breathing in asbestos-containing dust was harmful to the well-being of the workers. In England, government officials recognized the potential problem related to the inhalation of asbestos dust as early as the late 1800s. By the 1930s, it was well-recognized that breathing in asbestos dust caused asbestosis. Several states, including New Jersey, listed asbestosis as a compensable injury as early as the mid-1930s. By the late 1930s, the link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer was recognized. However, most troubling was the successful effort of the asbestos industry to suppress the then-developing medical evidence establishing the harmful nature of asbestos dust. It is clear that had the industry acted responsibly, hundreds of thousands of working men and their families would have been spared the horrors of asbestos disease. Incredibly, it is projected that the incidence of mesothelioma will continue to rise over the next 20 years. Anyone interested in learning more about the history of asbestos should read Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects. 5 th Ed. New York: Aspen Publishers, Inc. 2005, written by Barry Castleman.
We are here to help. This website has been designed as a resource for you and your families; we've tried to give you as much information as possible about the nature of asbestos exposure, the occupations and types of workers who were likely to encounter it, and the effects of exposure, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. Please understand that we respect your situation and believe that you are entitled to the best legal services possible. When you contact our office, you will speak to me directly. If you need me to come to your home to meet with you and your family, I am happy to do so. I will handle your case from beginning to end; I will not refer it to some other law office or have it handled by a less-experienced attorney. You can reach me 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-877-ATTY-24-7.
For more information or to speak with Patrick at his Red Bank office, contact Patrick J. Bartels at Keefe Bartels, L.L.C., 24 hours, seven days a week at 877-ATTY-24-7. All consultations are completely free.
AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.
