FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Employment Law Expert Samuel J. Cordes Joins Quatrini Law Group
February 20, 2024, PITTSBURGH, PA – The attorneys of the Quatrini Law Group (QLG) are pleased to welcome Samuel J. Cordes to lead the firm’s Employment Law practice. Attorney Cordes will represent plaintiffs in employment discrimination, ERISA, civil rights, and constitutional law matters. Attorney Cordes joins the QLG as the founding member of Samuel J. Cordes & Associates and Special Employment Litigation Counsel to Rothman Gordon.
Vincent J. Quatrini, Jr, managing partner of QLG, noted that “Sam Cordes is the ‘go to’ Employment attorney throughout Western Pennsylvania. We are thrilled to have him join the fifteen attorneys of our injury, disability, and employment practice.”
During his 30-plus year career, Sam repeatedly has been named one of the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Pittsburgh. He is the only Western Pennsylvania plaintiff employment lawyer to ever have been named as one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review calls Sam “the Archangel of Employment Rights in Western Pennsylvania,” and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has noted that Sam is “extremely smart in the scholarly sense and has that practical street-smart sense. You don’t see that combination in too many lawyers.”
Sam is a Fellow of the National College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a member of the Allegheny County Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is rated AV by Martindale-Hubble and has for 30 years been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and LawDragon. He is active with the Allegheny County Bar Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.
Attorney Cordes received his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, He received his B.A. in Journalism and Communication, as well as an M.A. in Journalism, from Point Park University.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A major announcement from the Department of Veterans Affairs: A significant number of medical conditions are now presumed to be caused by Burn Pit Exposure.
April 29, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs added nine respiratory cancers to the list of medical conditions which are automatically presumed to have been caused by Burn Pit exposure in Southwest Asia, or specific countries in the Middle East. This change will make it easier for Veterans – with these conditions – to qualify for Service Connected Disability Benefits.
Veterans who served in Southwest Asia beginning Aug. 2, 1990, to the present, or in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Syria or Djibouti beginning Sept. 19, 2001, to the present will qualify for the presumption if they have one of the listed conditions. This includes all veterans who served in the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. Although the VA deemed these conditions “rare” in their press release, they identified the following nine types of cancers as presumed to be connected to burn pit exposure:
• Squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx;
• Squamous cell carcinoma of the trachea;
• Adenocarcinoma of the trachea;
• Salivary gland-type tumors of the trachea;
• Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung;
• Large cell carcinoma of the lung;
• Salivary gland-type tumors of the lung;
• Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung, and;
• Typical and atypical carcinoid of the lung.
Veterans diagnosed with one of these conditions who had burn pit exposure during service in Southwest Asia or the Middle East will now be able to qualify for Service Connected Disability Benefits without having to prove a causal link between their service and their condition. The presumption will also be applied to cases of veterans who currently have an application pending for benefits.
You can read the VA’s press release here for more information on the addition. To learn more about applying for VA benefits, visit the VA’s website at https://www.va.gov/disability/how-to-file-claim/, or visit https://www.qrglaw.com/veterans-disability/
Veterans Disability Compensation is a full-time practice area at the Quatrini Law Group. Michael V. Quatrini, Esq., is accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans‘ Affairs (VA) to represent Veterans of the armed services who suffer from service-connected disabilities or diseases.
If you have applied for Service Connected Disability Benefits and have been denied, the Quatrini Law Group can assist you with your appeal. Call for a free consultation: 888-534 6016.
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