Although a general practitioner, Mr. Daranyi has concentrated his legal efforts in the field of representing cancer victims (or, if deceased, their surviving beneficiaries). Since 1998, Mr. Daranyi has filed over 1500 claims with the United States Department of Justice on behalf of downwinders, onsite participants and uranium miners, millers or ore transporters. These claims are filed pursuant to the provisions of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act ('RECA'), a federal law passed by Congress which became effective in 1990 and which is designed to compensate those victims and family members who qualify for cancer caused by the government's above ground nuclear testing at the Nevada test site between 1952 and 1962. The vast majority of clients and claimants are what are known as 'downwinders'; i.e. people who lived in certain geographic areas considered downwind from the testing where nuclear fallout is presumed to have caused cancer.

There are approximately 20 cancers covered under the program including, breast, brain, lung, pancreas, stomach, colon (including colorectal), and others. Not every cancer diagnosis is covered. For example, kidney, skin (including melanoma) and prostate cancers are cancers that are not covered under the program.

If you or your family member have been diagnosed with one or more of these cancers, and can otherwise show that you qualify (see below) you could be eligible for payments of between $50,000 and $100,000, depending on the category of eligibility.

In 2001, Congress passed a sister program to RECA, the EEOICPA which is administered by the United States Department of Labor. Under the EEOICPA, Congress intends to compensate victims or their family members if they contracted certain illnesses as a result of handling certain radioactive materials. Eligibility under this program may result in awards totaling from $150,000 to $275,000, depending on eligibility.

Some simple questions and answers to help you or your family assess your potential eligibility:

What does it cost?

All legal fees under the RECA or EEOICPA programs are contingent. What that means is that if the client does not get paid, then the attorney does not either. The fee amount is 2% of the recovery for any initial claims. The fee goes up to 10% for any claims that have been previously filed and denied and are now being refiled.
 
The client is responsible for any out of pocket expenses incurred in obtaining documents or information, including investigative services, in support of the claim.

How do I determine if I or my family is eligible for compensation?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mr. Daranyi's office at any time by phone 520-318-4841 or by email to georgedaranyi@msn.com. But, in the meantime, here are some simple questions that if you answer 'yes' to might mean that you or a family member or someone you know are eligible:

If you or a family member have had an internal cancer or leukemia anytime after 1956 (even if the family member is deceased) or if you yourself are diagnosed with cancer and can answer yes to any one of the following questions:

1. Lived in any of the following counties for a period of not less than 24 total months between January, 1951 and October, 1958 or during the month of July, 1962:

A. In Arizona: Gila, Apache, Navajo, Coconino or Yavapai Counties

B. In Utah: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington or Wayne counties

C. In Nevada: Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, White Pine or the northern portion of Clark counties; or

2. Was physically present at the Nevada Test Site, Trinity Test Site or other island test sites in the Atlantic or Pacific during a period of atmospheric nuclear testing prior to January 1, 1963 or were present during underground testing on Amchitka Island, Alaska prior to January, 1974; or,

3. Performed some duty in an Uranium mine, mill or were transporting uranium ore in either Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington or Wyoming. (Please note that other illnesses may also be covered for those under this section: fibrosis, silicosis and pneumoconiosis); or,

4. Worked in a nuclear weapons industry facility or for one of it's contractors anywhere in the United States and were exposed to either radiation, beryllium or silica, or were present in a gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio or Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

If the answers were yes to one or more of these questions, please call Mr. Daranyi's office to discuss the possibility of filing a claim on your or your family member's behalf.

Please note: The RECA program and the EEOICPA program are both regulated and administered under federal statutory and regulatory provisions. The claims being contemplated here are not lawsuits in the traditional way that most people understand lawsuits. These are administrative claims. And, no claimant or potential claimant is required to hire an attorney to assist him/her in the bringing of this type of claim.

If you decide to do this yourself, Mr. Daranyi can provide you with information so that you can do this on your own.

Finally, if you or someone you know has previously filed a claim which has been denied by the government on one or more grounds, Mr. Daranyi can review the denial decision with you and give you counsel as to whether or not the claim can or should be appealed or refiled. In the event that a claim is refiled after denial, Mr. Daranyi's fee is 10% of the ultimate recovery, if successful.

If you would like additional information, please feel free to call George Daranyi at 520-318-4841(office) or send an email to him at georgedaranyi@msn.com.

Other legal matters

Mr. Daranyi does, from time to time, take on other legal matters and other clients unrelated to the radiation claims described above. Although he does not have an active practice in personal injury litigation, he does a fair amount of initial consulting in that area and would welcome any such inquiry and provide whatever direction he can. He can also provide general direction and referrals to other attorneys in the fields of litigation, corporate, insurance, family law matters, wills and trusts and real estate matters. Mr. Daranyi is not actively practicing in any of those fields, currently. He is not a board-certified specialist in any area of the law and does not hold him self out as a specialist.