Asbestos News Roundup: 11.29.12 – Auto Mechanic Asbestos Disease

November 29th, 2012. By LucyC

This week’s asbestos news roundup includes all the 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.

Auto Mechanics & Asbestos Disease

This week we report a multi-million dollar settlement awarded to a former auto mechanic and his wife, after the husband was forced to give up his business after being diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma. While the outcome of the lawsuit is no doubt welcome by the couple, it nevertheless serves as a poignant reminder of just how much at risk auto mechanics really are for asbestos-related disease.

Asbestos was used in countless products, including automotive parts such as brake linings and clutch facings, from the 1930s until the 1980s. In fact, it is still used today in many products like car brakes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to an EPA document entitled “Guidance for Preventing Asbestos Disease Among Auto Mechanics”, “Millions of asbestos fibers can be released during brake and clutch servicing. Grinding and beveling friction products can cause even higher exposures. Like germs, asbestos fibers are small enough to be invisible and they can remain and accumulate in the lungs.” This can cause asbestos disease such as asbestos mesothelioma, which can take 30 years to manifest.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: Allen Johnson and his wife, Janet Canterbury Johnson, have filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 28 companies they claim are responsible for Mr. Johnson’s diagnoses of lung cancer other asbestos-related diseases.

According to the lawsuit, Allen Johnson was exposed to large quantities of asbestos-containing products during his career. The Johnson’s allege that Mr. Johnson was required, as part of his work, to handle products containing asbestos and exposed him to other asbestos products present in the workplace.

The Johnson’s further allege the defendants failed to timely and adequately warn Allen Johnson of the dangers of asbestos and failed to provide him with information as to what would be reasonably safe and sufficient wearing apparel and proper protective equipment and appliances. Therefore, the lawsuit claims, the defendants failed to take reasonable precautions or exercise reasonable care to publish, adopt and enforce a safety plan and/or safe method of handling and installing asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products. This, the lawsuit claims, makes the defendants’ actions negligent and in flagrant disregard for the rights of others and with awareness on their part that their conduct would result in human deaths and/or great bodily harm.

The Johnsons are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. The 28 companies named as defendants in the suit are 3M Corporation; A.O. Smith; Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc.; Blue Bird Corporation; Blue Bird Motor Company; Borg Warner Morse Tec, Inc.; CBS Corp.; Certainteed Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Ford Motor Company; Genuine Auto Parts; Georgia-Pacific Corporation; Honeywell International, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Kelsey-Hayes Company; Maremont Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Pneumo-Abex Corporation; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Thomas Built Buses, Inc.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical & Plastics Company; Vimasco Corporation; and West Virginia Electric Supply Company. (wvrecord.com)

Asbestos Settlements

Los Angeles, CA: A retired auto mechanic who developed asbestos mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to asbestos from Ford vehicle parts such as brakes, clutches and gaskets, has been awarded $6,825,000 as settlement of his asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit.

Sixty-nine year old Patrick Scott had to give up his auto repair business when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in the fall of 2011 and has been unable to work since. After serving in the U.S. Air Force and working for nine months at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, he opened his first auto repair shop in 1966 in Sausalito. Later that year, he moved his shop to San Francisco. Then, in 1978, Scott opened a one-bay auto shop in St. Helena, California, which he ran until his diagnosis.

In his asbestos lawsuit, Scott alleged Ford’s products were defectively designed to include the use of asbestos; that Ford failed to warn of such defects, and that Ford was negligent. Further, that Ford had been aware that asbestos causes mesothelioma since 1960, yet continued to sell asbestos parts until 2001.

Throughout his career, plaintiff worked primarily on American-made vehicles, including many Ford cars and trucks. The Ford cars and trucks had asbestos brakes, clutches, gaskets, and other parts. Evidence at trial showed that Ford was a member of the National Safety Council in 1948, when that organization published a paper on the harmful effects of asbestos in brakes. (juryverdictalert.com)

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

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