Asbestos News Roundup: 7.19.12 – Retired Railroad Worker Asbestos Risk

July 19th, 2012. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Retired Railwaymen Sick with Asbestos Disease

Many retired railway men are finding that the years they spent working in railway yards and on trains has caused them to become ill with asbestos-related illnesses. And their illnesses could have been prevented if they had been made aware of the dangers and provided with proper protective gear.

Asbestos was used to insulate steam and diesel locomotives, boxcars, cabooses and pipes. It was also used in brakes and floor tiles of passenger cars. When workers were tasked with removing the asbestos, and were not wearing protective clothing, the airborne asbestos fibers became lodged in their clothes and worse, in their lungs. As this practice went on over time—years in many cases—the accumulation of the asbestos fibers in their lungs led to fatal asbestos mesothelioma. Such is the case of the four former BNSF railway workers who are now suing the company.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Lincoln, NE: BNSF Railway is being sued by four former employees and their relatives over allegations of potentially fatal asbestos exposure. The men, who all worked as carmen for BNSF, allege they developed asbestos-related lung disease as a result of exposure through their work.

One of the carmen, Bernard Richter of Lincoln, died in November 2010 of colon cancer caused by exposure to asbestos on the job, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of his widow, Virginia Richter.

The three other former BNSF carmen are represented in a separate lawsuit. They are Philip Custard of Omaha, who began working for BNSF in 1950; Donal Hansen of Lincoln, who started with the railway 1952, and Steve Hegener, also of Lincoln, who worked for BNSF from 1969.

Their suit alleges the plaintiffs suffered from lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos, “which cannot be effectively cured by conservative medical procedures or medications.”

All of the retirees on passenger and freight cars in the Lincoln shops and in Omaha, their lawyer said. (journalstar.com)

Charleston, WV: On July 7, 2010, Franklin Delno Hensley was diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer and subsequently died on May 13, 2011. Tammy Horn, a family member, is suing 64 companies she claims are responsible for her Mr. Hensley’s lung cancer and death.

Ms. Horn claims that while Mr.Hensley was employed as a plumber, carpenter and laborer, from 1956 to 2002, he was exposed to asbestos.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.

Horn is seeking a jury trial to resolve all issues involved. The companies named as defendants are 3M Company; A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Armstrong International, Inc.; Aurora Pump Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; CBS Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Chromium Corporation; Cleaver Brooks, Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Flowserve Corporation; Flowserve f/k/a The Duriron Company Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Genuine Parts Company; Georgia Pacific Corporation; Gordon Gasket & Packing Co.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Mobil Corporation; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Robin Industries, Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Schneider Electric; Spirax Sarco, Inc.; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Superior Container, Inc.; Swindell Dressier International Corporation; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; Trane U.S. Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical & Plastics Company; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Vimasco Corporation; Weil-McLain Company; Yarway Corporation; YRC, Inc.; and Zurn Industries, Inc. (wvrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: Lawrence Edward Miller, who was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 20, 2011, has filed an asbestos lawsuit with his wife, naming 42 companies they claim are responsible for his lung cancer diagnosis.

Miller and his wife, Clara Faye Miller, allege the defendants exposed him to asbestos during his employment as a laborer and shipper from 1947 until 1993.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warrant, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.

The companies named as defendants in the suit are A.K. Steel Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; CBS Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Elliott Company; Flowserve Corporation; Flowserve f/k/a The Duriron Company, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (US) LLC; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; The F.D. Lawrence Electric Company; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Vimasco Corporation; and West Virginia Electric Supply A Houston attorney is representing three more former employees of BNSF Railway and the widow of a fourth in lawsuits alleging they suffered damages — and in one case, death — from exposure to asbestos because of the railroad’s negligence in and around its Lincoln operations. (wvrecord)

Asbestos Settlements

New Orleans, LA: A former shipbuilder who had brought a mesothelioma lawsuit against Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Mundet Cork Co. has been awarded $12 million for his illness.

According to Law360, Frederick Schulte worked as a ship-fitter and iron-fitter for McDermott In. Shipyard where he regularly dealt with old piping, valves, and gaskets on quarter boats used in World War II. Court documents would later confirm that the piping he handled contained asbestos and was manufactured by Mundet Cork.

Schulte went on to also work at Avondale Shipyards where he was exposed to partitions, furniture, walls, and bulkheads on Coast Guard cutters as radar technician.

In October, 2011 Schulte was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His mesothelioma lawsuit that followed he claimed that the airborne asbestos he inhaled while regularly handling asbestos at his former jobs was the reason for his mesothelioma diagnosis.

In addition to Crown Cork & Seal and Westinghouse, Crane Co., Reilly Benton, International Paper Co., and Crosby Valve, McDermott, and Avondale were also named in the mesothelioma lawsuit for withholding information about the dangers of asbestos.

It only took 10 months following Schulte’s mesothelioma diagnosis for him to receive his lawsuit ruling and $12 million award. (cisionwire.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Exposure, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma, Asbestos Settlement

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