Asbestos News Roundup: 5.3.12 – Construction Worker Asbestos

May 4th, 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.

Construction Worker Asbestos Disease Risk

It seems that that by far the majority of asbestos lawsuits we see involve construction work, in some capacity. Many of the materials used in the construction industry contained, or in some cases still contain asbestos. In fact, by the mid-20th century asbestos was being used in fire retardant coatings, concrete, bricks, pipes and fireplace cement, heat, fire, and acid resistant gaskets, pipe insulation, ceiling insulation, fireproof drywall, flooring, roofing, lawn furniture, and drywall joint compound.

Unfortunately, In the 1960/70s the general public was not aware of the dangers of asbestos, and so millions of men and women likely worked on or around construction asbestos without any protection.

It would not be uncommon for people to work with asbestos-containing products, either installing or removing them, which would send asbestos fibers into the air. The fibers are inhaled, and settle on people’s clothing—and that’s how asbestos disease begins. People who become ill from asbestos are usually exposed to it on a regular basis, hence the hundreds of asbestos contruction lawsuits we are seeing now.

Asbestos Lawsuits

A total of 18 new asbestos lawsuits were recently filed in St. Louis Circuit Court. Last week we highlighted several, and this week we bring you a few more.

Madison County, IL: David L. and Judith Hall of Colorado allege David L. Hall developed mesothelioma after his work as a mechanic, a construction worker, and a home remodeler, in Colorado, Kansas and Washington during the 1960s and 1970s.

Nolan and Essie Madere have filed an asbestos lawsuit as a result of Nolan Madere having developed lung cancer after his work as an airborne paratrooper from 1947 until 1952, as a laborer at Shell Oil Company from 1954 until 1965 and as a maintenance mechanic at Kaiser Aluminum from 1965 until 1992.

Lawrence Hull claims he developed mesothelioma after his work as a laborer, bond office clerk, teacher and clerk at various locations throughout North Dakota, California, Oregon and Idaho from 1941 until 1995. (madisonrecord.com)

Asbestos Settlements

San Francisco, CA: A $4.5 million punitive damages award in an asbestos lawsuit will be allowed to stand—a California appeals court has ruled that it is not excessive, and that the conduct of ArvinMeritor, the defendant in the lawsuit, and successor of brake shoe manufacturer Rockwell, was “highly reprehensible.”

According to a report by Legal NewsLine, the brake shoes Rockwell made were fitted with asbestos-containing linings produced by other companies. ArvinMeritor did not dispute its liability for the acts of Rockwell.

“By the 1960s, ArvinMeritor knew that workers exposed to asbestos dust were at risk of developing asbestos-related diseases,” the judge presiding over the appeal wrote. “Indeed, in 1973 and again in 1975, it wrote letters to (Pneumo Abex) and other manufacturers complaining about the presence of asbestos dust in the brake linings it was receiving from them. Nonetheless, ArvinMeritor did not place any warnings on its products until the early 1980s, and continued to market asbestos-containing brakes until its inventory of them was exhausted sometime in the early 1990s.”

The justice noted that ArvinMeritor did not include a specific reference to cancer on its products until 1987. Gordon Bankhead, who filed the lawsuit, had worked at automotive maintenance facilities from 1965-1999. He died of mesothelioma in 2009.

A jury found ArvinMeritor 15 percent at fault for Bankhead’s death and suffering, putting it on the hook for $375,000 of a $2.5 million noneconomic damages award. The company was joint and severally liable for all of the $1.47 million in compensatory damages. A separate trial resulted in the $4.5 million punitive damages award. (Legal Newsline.com)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Settlement, asbestosis, Construction Worker, mesothelioma, Occupational Asbestos Exposure

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