Asbestos News Roundup: 3.31.11

March 31st, 2011. By LucyC

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

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: A widow from New Mexico has filed an asbestos claim naming 48 companies as being responsible for her husband’s lung cancer and death. Diagnosed with lung cancer on October 9, 2009, David L. Grove subsequently died on March 11, 2010.

In her suit, Nancy Stewart claims her husband was employed by Armco Steel in Ashland, KY, from 1964 until 1990. She alleges that the defendants were negligent and that the buildings her husband worked in were contaminated with asbestos. The suit claims  breach of express/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.

The 48 companies named in the suit are: 3M Company; A.K. Steel Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Elliott Turbo Machinery Company; Flowserve FSD Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Company; Grinnell, LLC; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; IngersoII-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Square D Company; 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, Inc.; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Washington Group International; and West Virginia State Electric Supply Company. (WVRecord)

Jefferson County, TX: The widow of the late Daryl Stukey has filed an asbestos claim alleging that her husband’s lung cancer and subsequent death were caused by 21 defendant companies named in the suit. The suit states “Stukey died on April 12, 2009, from a … painful asbestos-caused disease known as lung cancer.”

According to the claim, Daryl Stukey worked at area refineries beginning in 1946, and that he was initially exposed to asbestos while working for DuPont de Nemours from 1946 to the 1970s. The suit claims that the defendants were aware of the dangers associated with their asbestos products, but conspired to manufacture and distribute asbestos products without warning workers, such as Stukey.

The defendants named in the suit include: Able Supply, Alstom Power, AMF, CBS, Certainteed, Crown Cork & Seal, Deltak, Foster wheeler Energy, General Electric, Georgia-Pacific, Goulds Pumps, Goulds Pump Texas, Guard-Line, Henry Vogt Machine, Ingersoll-Rand, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, Owens-Illinois, Riley Power, Triplex, Union Carbide and Zurn Industries. (SETexasrecord.com)

Asbestos Settlements

New York, NY: The maker of Rust-Oleum has agreed to contribute an unspecified sum of money to win protection from future asbestos lawsuits, Bloomberg reports.

RPM International Inc, has reportedly stated that it “understands” that it must set aside funds in a court-approved trust to made available to victims of asbestos exposure, so as to win immunity from any future lawsuits aimed at its bankrupt subsidiaries including Bondex International Inc and Speciality Products Holding Corp.

Both Bondex and Specialty Products filed for bankruptcy in 2010 without saying how they would fund an asbestos trust. Although neither company have any actual operations, Specialty, a holding company owns eight manufacturers of coatings and specialty chemicals, including Bondex. It is facing roughly 15,000 asbestos lawsuits, Bloomberg reports, all related to its Bondex unit. When the company filed for bankruptcy on May 31, 2010, some 10,000 of those cases were active in courts around the US.

Under U.S. bankruptcy law, companies and their subsidiaries that file for bankruptcy can win immunity from future asbestos lawsuits by establishing a trust fund to cover medical and other costs related to asbestos exposure. (Bloomberg.net

Asbestos Law

Washington, DC: A resident of Santa Clarita, CA, has been convicted of five environmental charges related to the improper renovation of a San Fernando Valley, CA, apartment complex—work that caused asbestos to be released into the complex and the surrounding community.

Following a two-week trial in United States District Court, Charles Yi, 45, was found guilty of five felony offenses, including conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act.

The jury also convicted Yi of failing to notify the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District about a renovation containing asbestos, failing to provide a properly trained person during a renovation containing asbestos, failing to properly remove asbestos and failing to properly dispose of asbestos wastes.

Yi faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 6, 2011, by United States District Judge Percy Anderson.

Yi was the owner of the now-defunct Millennium Pacific Icon Group, which owned the Forest Glen apartment complex, a 204-unit complex in Winnetka, CA, that was being converted into condominiums in 2006. Knowing that asbestos was present in the ceilings of apartments in the Forest Glen complex, Yi and his co-conspirators hired a group of workers who were not trained or certified to conduct asbestos abatements. The workers scraped the ceilings of the apartments without knowing about the asbestos and without wearing any protective gear. The illegal scraping resulted in the repeated release of asbestos-containing material throughout the apartment complex and the surrounding area because Santa Ana winds were blowing during the time of the illegal work. After the illegal asbestos abatement was shut down by an inspector from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the asbestos was cleaned up at a cost of approximately $1.2 million.

“Mr Yi knowingly violated federal laws that set standards for proper disposal of asbestos and placed the workers that he hired at an unacceptable risk of exposure,” said Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “As this conviction shows, we will aggressively prosecute those who deliberately ignore the nation’s Clean Air Act.”

The federal Clean Air Act requires those who own or supervise the renovation of buildings that contain asbestos to adhere to certain established work practice standards. These standards were created to ensure the safe removal and disposal of the asbestos and the protection of workers.

“Exposure to asbestos can be fatal,” said Nick Torres, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in California.   “The defendant knew his operation produced waste material that contained asbestos and, despite being told by inspectors to stop removing it, the illegal asbestos removal continued. Today’s conviction by a jury shows that the American people will not tolerate those who put illegal financial gain ahead of their obligation to obey the law.”

Previously in this case, two co-conspirators pleaded guilty. John Bostick, 40, of Santa Clarita, who was the vice president of Millennium Pacific Icon Group, pleaded guilty on February 23, 2011, to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. Bostick, who faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on May 2, 2011.

On June 14, 2010, Joseph Yoon, 33, of Studio City, CA, who was the project manager on the Forest Glen conversion, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. Yoon, who is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on April 25, 2011, faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

The jury that convicted Yi on the five counts today also acquitted Yi of one count of failing to inspect for asbestos prior to conducting an asbestos renovation. (US Department of Justice, Washington DC: 7thspace.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos_mesothelioma

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