Asbestos News Roundup: 7.25.13 – Ford Cited for Worker Asbestos Exposure

July 25th, 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.

US Navy Veterans at Risk for Asbestos

US Navy Veterans are at high risk for asbestos-related disease, due to their asbestos exposure while working on navy ships undergoing refits, for example. But because asbestos-related disease can take up to 30 years or more to manifest, it is often detected long after men have left the Navy.

The states with the most US Navy Veterans include California, Florida, New York, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Massachusetts, Washington, Maine, Oregon, Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Montana, Kansas, North Dakota, Hawaii, Nebraska, and Mississippi.

US Navy Veterans are not the only group of workers at high risk for asbestos exposure. Men and women who worked in power plants, manufacturing factories, chemical plants, oil refineries, mines, smelters, aerospace manufacturing facilities, demolition construction work sites, railroads, automotive manufacturing facilities, or auto brake shops may also have been exposed to high levels of asbestos.

Asbestos Law – Ford Cited for Exposing Workers to Asbestos

Detroit, MI: Ford Motor Co exposes its workers to asbestos, according to a report by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Earlier this week, the federal agency cited Ford for eight violations covering asbestos exposure at a stamping plant in Buffalo, N.Y.

Ford could face up to $41,800 in fines for failing to protect workers from asbestos-containing material at the plant, according to OSHA.

Among the violations is the exposure of a pipefitter to asbestos-containing material in the insulation of a steam line he was working on. Additionally, none of the workers who were exposed to asbestos-containing materials wore respiratory protection.

OHSA also reported that the workers’ area was not properly organized to limit the amount of employees working in the area, asbestos-contained areas were not properly cordoned off, and airborne levels of the hazardous mineral were not properly monitored.

Violations are defined as “serious” when death or significant injury to workers is likely from a problem that Ford knew or should have known about, according to the agency.

Ford has 15 business days from when it received the citations to comply, meet with local OSHA officials, or contest the citations. The factory employs 537 workers, according to Ford. (autonews.com)

Asbestos Settlements

New York, NY: An 81-year-old Los Angeles man and his wife have been awarded a $1.525 million verdict in his asbestos-cancer lawsuit this July.

In May of 2012, Marty Marteney, a successful architect whose father was an immigrant to the United States from Mexico, was diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma. After a three week trial, a Los Angeles jury returned a verdict on July 1 in favor of Marteney, giving him a judgment against Union Carbide Corporation and Elementis Chemicals, Inc.

According to the attorneys representing the Marteneys, Mr. Marteney’s disease stemmed from his exposure to workers who used asbestos-containing construction products and automotive parts. Union Carbide was a supplier of asbestos fiber and Elementis was the distributor of Union Carbide’s asbestos on the West Coast.

Marteney’s asbestos exposure goes back to his childhood, when his father took him out of school and made him work in his father’s auto shop, where he handled these toxic materials without any knowledge of their danger.

Without an education and with no knowledge of his asbestos exposure, Marteney enlisted in the armed forces, started a family, and later became an apprentice architect.

Eventually Mr. Marteney returned to school and built a career as a well-respected architect, designing homes for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Unknowingly, this hard work exposed him to asbestos-containing construction products that would later cause the cancer that would ruin his well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Marteney is currently undergoing treatment for his mesothelioma. Marteney lives in San Marino, California, with his wife. (watchlist.com)

New York, NY: An asbestos verdict of $190 million has been awarded in a lawsuit brought by five men who were exposed to asbestos-tainted products and equipment during their jobs as steamfitters, plumbers, and construction workers.

A panel of New York Supreme Court jurors found the two defendant companies had acted negligently and recklessly, then rendering a verdict worth a total of $190 million, the largest consolidated asbestos verdict in New York history. It is believed that the $60 million individual amounts two of the men received are the largest individual sums awarded in a New York asbestos case.

Daniel Blouin, an attorney with Weitz & Luxenberg, the firm representing the plaintiffs, said he and his team tackled the case by telling the jury a story of five men who worked honest jobs for decades only to be repaid with immense suffering. “We wanted to show the jury the sorrow our clients were and are going through,” Blouin said. “And not just physically but psychologically. Once you are exposed to asbestos and develop mesothelioma, you know your fate. It’s an unbearably heavy burden.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs told the jury there wasn’t an amount they could give the men that would be unreasonable. The defendants in this case subjected thousands of men and women to a terribly toxic substance. It is likely the companies took a calculated risk in doing so. That isn’t a debt that can be repaid, the attorneys said.

The jury, returning a verdict at 4 p.m. on July 23, found both defendants—boiler companies Cleaver Brooks and Burnham—negligent in having failed to warn about the dangers of the asbestos used in connection with their equipment. The verdict said both companies had acted with reckless disregard for human life.

All five of the plaintiffs were tradesmen from the tri-state area.

One man, from Toms River, NJ, worked in the 50s and 60s as a pipefitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was exposed to asbestos daily while fitting pipes into the salt-water distilling units aboard aircraft carriers like the USS Constellation and USS Independence.

Another, from Oyster Bay, NY, worked for nearly 30 years as a plumber, handling dozens of different types of products contaminated with asbestos.

A third, of Middle Village, NY, was also exposed to asbestos working as a plumber in Brooklyn, Queens, and Rockland Co.

Another man, from Howard Beach, NY, was exposed to asbestos on the job as a painter and construction worker. He was involved with the removal and demolition of boilers containing asbestos-laden parts.

The final client, from Kent, CT, also worked with boilers and boiler parts in the course of his job as a steamfitter.

All five men developed mesothelioma as a result of asbestos exposure. Three have died of complications related to the disease.

The trial (Index Nos. 190008/12, 190026/12, 190200/12, 190183/12, 190184/12) was held in New York Supreme Court before Judge Joan Madden. (pr.com/press-release)

Tags: Asbestos, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma

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