Asbestos News Roundup: 10.10.13 – Hidden Asbestos at School, at Home

October 10th, 2013. 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.

Asbestos Risk at School and at Home

Last month, a junior high school in Rhode Island was closed for several days so that workers could safely remove asbestos from the building. The asbestos was discovered when a ceiling that was being taken down revealed a second concealed ceiling. The hidden ceiling was found to contain asbestos.

Because of its strength and heat resistance, asbestos was used in a wide variety of building construction materials. As the Rhode Island case demonstrates, many times asbestos containing materials may be out of sight.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asbestos can be found in many products and materials. Some of the many suspect materials include:

• Attic and wall insulation produced containing vermiculite

• Vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives

• Roofing and siding shingles

• Textured paint and patching compounds used on wall and ceilings

• Walls and floors around wood-burning stoves protected with asbestos paper, millboard, or cement sheets

• Hot water and steam pipes coated with asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape

• Oil and coal furnaces and door gaskets with asbestos insulation

• Heat-resistant fabrics

• Automobile clutches and brakes

You can find out more about asbestos dangers in the home by watching this video:

Asbestos Lawsuits

St. Clair, IL: An asbestos lawsuit has been filed by Steve and Marsha Bostick against 65 defendant corporations which, they allege, caused Steve Bostick. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Bostick was exposed to asbestos-containing products throughout his career as a mechanic in the US Army from 1965 until 1968, as a deckhand on the Mississippi River and as a mechanic at MTA City Bus Line from 1968 until 1971, as a power plant operator at TVA from 1971 until 1985 and as a power plant shift operator for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1985 until 2002.

The Bosticks claim the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for Steve Bostick’s safety.

According to the lawsuit, as a result of his asbestos-related diseases, Steve Bostick is disabled and disfigured, has incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish. Further, he was prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued to him, the lawsuit states.

The Bosticks are seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, economic damages of more than $50,000, punitive and exemplary damages of more than $100,000, compensatory damages of more than $50,000, punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish the defendants, plus costs and other relief the court deems just. (madisonrecord.com)

New Orleans, LA:The family of Judy Gail Babin has filed an asbestos lawsuit claiming that her diagnosis of asbestos mesothelioma and subsequent death resulted from her asbestos exposure in connection with her husband’s career.

In their lawsuit, Joseph Edward Babin II, husband of Judy Gail Babin and her children, Joseph Edward Babin III and Lori Babin, allege Judy Gail Babin was continuously exposed directly and indirectly to her husband’s asbestos-laden work clothes, his tools, his car, and their shared surroundings. As a result of her second hand or take home asbestos exposure, she developed and died from mesothelioma.

In the lawsuit, the defendants are accused of designing, testing, contracting, evaluating, manufacturing, packaging, furnishing, storing, handling, transporting, installing, supplying and or selling asbestos-containing products. In addition to these charges, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants for many decades have been in possession of medical and scientific data, literature and test reports clearly indicating the danger of asbestos, and willfully, fraudulently and maliciously concealing and distorting these facts.

The family is seeking an undisclosed amount in connection with strict liability, product liability, negligence and conspiracy allegations against the employers, products, equipment, suppliers, and contractors. The plaintiffs seek damages for conscious physical pain and suffering and mental anguish sustained by the decedent, physical impairment, disfigurement, reasonable and necessary medical expenses, loss of consortium, death and any further damages.

The named defendants in the suit are: The Anchor Packing Company, Coltec Industrial, Inc., Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation, Flowserve Corporation, Durco International, Riley Power, Babcock Borsig Power Inc., D.B. Riley, Riley Stoker Corporation, William Powell Company, General Electric Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Entergy Gulf States LA LLC, Gulf States Utilities Company, Mosiac Fertilizer LLC, IMC Phosphates Company, IMC Agrico Company, Texaco, Motiva Enterprises, Shell Oil Company, Momentice Specialty Chemical Inc., Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc., Borden Chemical Inc., Borden Inc., The Borden Company, Borden Chemical and Plastics Limited Partnership, BASF Corporation, BASF Wyandotte Corporation, Honeywell International, Allied Signal Inc., Allied-Signal Inc., Georgia Pacific LLC, McDermott Inc., Zeneco Inc., ICI Americas Inc., Rubicon Chemicals, Bovay Engineers International, Burns and Roe Enterprises, Taylor-Seidenbach Inc., The McCarty Corporation, Anco Insulations Inc., Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Arrowood Indemnity Company, Eagle Inc., Brock Enterprises Inc., Cannon Sline, Inc., Technip Energy and Chemicals International Inc., Shaw Energy and Chemicals Inc., The Shaw Group, Stone & Webber Inc., Technip E & C Inc. and Turner Industries Group LLC. (louisianarecord.com)

New Orleans, LA: Several companies have been named in an asbestos lawsuit filed by Lones James Gagnard Jr. who contracted asbestos-related lung cancer, which he attributes to his occupational exposure to asbestos containing materials from the early 1970s.

Specifically, the defendants are accused of mining, manufacturing, selling, supplying, distributing, and using products unreasonably dangerous and known to possess inherent dangerous properties with high potential for injury, failing to warn the plaintiff as to the hazards of their products in their foreseeable use, failing to provide safety instructions to eliminate or reduce risks associated with the products, failure to inspect truthfully or adequately report product testing and medical studies, failure to properly design, producing defective products, and failure to properly package their products. In addition, employers allegedly failed to provide Gagnard with a safe place to work, adequate engineering or industrial hygiene measures to control the level of exposure to asbestos and failure to warn of associated hazards.

Gagnard Jr. filed his asbestos lawsuit against Avondale Industries, Inc., Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Inc., Huntington Ingalls Incorporated, Eagle, Inc., Hopeman Brothers Inc., International Paper Company, Champion International, US Plywood, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company as insurer of Wayne Manufacturing Company, McCarty Corporation, Maryland Casualty Company as insurer of Marquette Insulation Inc., Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Reilly-Benton Company, Taylor-Seidenbach Inc., Uniroyal Inc., Viacom Inc. as successor to CBS Corporation, Wayne Manufacturing, Albert Bossier, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, OneBeacon Insurance Company, J.D. Roberts, and James Melton Garrett in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on July 19.

He is seeking an undisclosed amount for all medical costs or expenses, lost earnings, mental suffering, anguish, pain, and suffering, physical pain and suffering, loss of quality of life and disability. (louisianarecord.com)

 

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, mesothelioma

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