Asbestos News Roundup: 9.26.13 – Construction Worker Asbestos

September 27th, 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.

Construction Materials Containing Asbestos

Many of the materials used in construction, including welding, pipe fitting, and millwright work, contained, or in some cases still contain asbestos. 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.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that the knowledge of the dangers of asbestos exposure and related asbestos disease became more widely known amongst the general public. Consequently, millions of men and women likely worked on or around asbestos without any protection for decades.

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 lawsuits we are seeing now.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Riverton, KS: An employee of the Empire District Electric Company has filed an asbestos class action lawsuit alleging the defendant utility company exposed him to asbestos while he was working in the Riverton generating plant.

The coal-fired plant in Riverton was built in 1910, and used asbestos insulation, which was standard in those days. Although the plant has undergone upgrades over the decades it’s been in use, the asbestos has not been removed. In the lawsuit, Les Rider claims the insulation is not only common throughout the building but is also exposed and disintegrating. The asbestos class action claims that Empire District Electric Company knowingly exposed employees to asbestos and other hazardous materials. Specifically, the lawsuit states that Rider and other employees were “repeatedly assigned tasks that brought them into close contact with unreasonably dangerous concentrations of asbestos fibers.”

According to the lawsuit, Rider and other employees were instructed to dispose of various scrap materials that were excavated from the plant when the plant was being converted from coal to natural gas. Court documents show that plant manager Ed Eason said he “wanted these materials to disappear so that Empire personnel charged with environmental oversight would not find them. Mr. Eason further said he wanted ‘plausible deniability’ so that if these materials were found he would not be held responsible for their improper disposal.”

In the class action, Rider claims that as a result he and other employees are at risk for a “significantly higher risk of cancer” due to asbestos exposure. (sekvoice.com)

New Orleans, LA: Charles J. Carrone Sr. has filed an asbestos lawsuit against several defendants alleging they are responsible for his diagnosis of terminal asbestos-related lung cancer.

During his 30 years work at various companies, Carrone claims he was exposed to injurious levels of asbestos. Carrone worked as an electrician from approximately 1950 to 1979. In his lawsuit, he alleges he used, handled or was in the vicinity of others using or handling asbestos on United Fruit Company vessels at the New Orleans riverfront. He also claims he was exposed while working at Evans Cooperage, at Coca-Cola in the construction of a canning room and while pipefitters and insulators installed pipes insulated with asbestos. Carrone further claims his duties required that he start the boilers and perform maintenance, which he did for over 20 years in areas he states lacked proper ambient air filtration.

Negligence and strict liability action is sought against each of the defendants, who the plaintiff claims should not have designed, tested, evaluated, manufactured, handled, transported, installed, supplied and/or sold asbestos-containing products. Moreover, they should have disclosed critical medical and safety information, removed the hazards, supervised for proper safety procedure, mitigated the inhalation and transfer of the asbestos to the plaintiff’s home, and warned him about the known health hazards. Instead, the defendants ostensibly “ignored or actively concealed such information, or condoned such concealment, in order to sell asbestos or asbestos-containing products and to avoid litigation by those who were injured from asbestos inhalation.”

An undisclosed amount is sought for all medical costs or related expenses, lost earnings, mental suffering, anguish, pain, suffering, physical pain and suffering, loss of quality of life and disability.

The named defendants are: Asbestos Corporation Limited, Eagle Inc., Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation, McCarty Corporation, Maryland Casualty Company as insurer of Marquette Insulations Inc., Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Owens Illinois Inc., Reilly-Benton Company, Taylor-Seidenbach Inc., General Electric, Boland Machine & Manufacturing Company Inc., Chiquita Brands International Inc., United Fruit Company, Coca-Cola Company, Evan Cooperage, Evans Industries Inc. and Evans Harvey Corporation. (louisianarecord.com)

Montgomery, PA: Fifty-three year old David Mermelstein, a resident of Willow Grove, PA, has been indicted on five counts of illegal asbestos removal. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years imprisonment and a fine of $1.25 million.

According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the indictment alleges that from in or about September, 2009 through in or about April, 2010, Mermelstein hired day laborers instead of licensed asbestos contractors to remove asbestos from commercial property he owned at 10175 Northeast Avenue, Philadelphia. The indictment also claims Mermelstein directed the removal of asbestos by these laborers without safeguards required by federal law. The asbestos in question was contained in insulated pipes that ran throughout the building. Mermelstein had purchased the property, which is an old furniture warehouse, back in April 2001, according to the indictment.

“Mermelstein directed the workers to remove asbestos insulated pipes that were present at the Property, using techniques that included cutting, breaking and ripping the dry asbestos, allowing it to drop to the floor, sweeping asbestos containing dust and debris, and disposing of asbestos in the trash and in a dumpster,” the indictment states.

The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the City of Philadelphia’s Air Management Services. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Virgil B. Walker and Special Assistant United States Attorney Patricia Miller. The indictment charges Mermelstein with violating the federal Clean Air Act. (www.justice.gov/usao/pae)

 

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

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