Asbestos News Roundup: 7.19.12 – Retired Railroad Worker Asbestos Risk

July 19th, 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.

Retired Railwaymen Sick with Asbestos Disease

Many retired railway men are finding that the years they spent working in railway yards and on trains has caused them to become ill with asbestos-related illnesses. And their illnesses could have been prevented if they had been made aware of the dangers and provided with proper protective gear.

Asbestos was used to insulate steam and diesel locomotives, boxcars, cabooses and pipes. It was also used in brakes and floor tiles of passenger cars. When workers were tasked with removing the asbestos, and were not wearing protective clothing, the airborne asbestos fibers became lodged in their clothes and worse, in their lungs. As this practice went on over time—years in many cases—the accumulation of the asbestos fibers in their lungs led to fatal asbestos mesothelioma. Such is the case of the four former BNSF railway workers who are now suing the company.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Lincoln, NE: BNSF Railway is being sued by four former employees and their relatives over allegations of potentially fatal asbestos exposure. The men, who all worked as carmen for BNSF, allege they developed asbestos-related lung disease as a result of exposure through their work.

One of the carmen, Bernard Richter of Lincoln, died in November 2010 of colon cancer caused by exposure to asbestos on the job, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of his widow, Virginia Richter.

The three other former BNSF carmen are represented in a separate lawsuit. They are Philip Custard of Omaha, who began working for BNSF in 1950; Donal Hansen of Lincoln, who started with the railway 1952, and Steve Hegener, also of Lincoln, who worked for BNSF from 1969.

Their suit alleges the plaintiffs suffered from lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos, “which cannot be effectively cured by conservative medical procedures or medications.”

All of the retirees on passenger and freight cars in the Lincoln shops and in Omaha, their lawyer said. (journalstar.com)

Charleston, WV: On July 7, 2010, Franklin Delno Hensley was diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer and subsequently died on May 13, 2011. Tammy Horn, a family member, is suing 64 companies she claims are responsible for her Mr. Hensley’s lung cancer and death.

Ms. Horn claims that while Mr.Hensley was employed as a plumber, carpenter and laborer, from 1956 to 2002, he was exposed to asbestos.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.

Horn is seeking a jury trial to resolve all issues involved. The companies named as defendants are 3M Company; A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Armstrong International, Inc.; Aurora Pump Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; CBS Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Chromium Corporation; Cleaver Brooks, Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Flowserve Corporation; Flowserve f/k/a The Duriron Company Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Genuine Parts Company; Georgia Pacific Corporation; Gordon Gasket & Packing Co.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Mobil Corporation; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Robin Industries, Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Schneider Electric; Spirax Sarco, Inc.; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Superior Container, Inc.; Swindell Dressier International Corporation; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; Trane U.S. Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical & Plastics Company; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Vimasco Corporation; Weil-McLain Company; Yarway Corporation; YRC, Inc.; and Zurn Industries, Inc. (wvrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: Lawrence Edward Miller, who was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 20, 2011, has filed an asbestos lawsuit with his wife, naming 42 companies they claim are responsible for his lung cancer diagnosis.

Miller and his wife, Clara Faye Miller, allege the defendants exposed him to asbestos during his employment as a laborer and shipper from 1947 until 1993.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warrant, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.

The companies named as defendants in the suit are A.K. Steel Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; CBS Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Elliott Company; Flowserve Corporation; Flowserve f/k/a The Duriron Company, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; 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 and Washington Group International; Vimasco Corporation; and West Virginia Electric Supply A Houston attorney is representing three more former employees of BNSF Railway and the widow of a fourth in lawsuits alleging they suffered damages — and in one case, death — from exposure to asbestos because of the railroad’s negligence in and around its Lincoln operations. (wvrecord)

Asbestos Settlements

New Orleans, LA: A former shipbuilder who had brought a mesothelioma lawsuit against Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Mundet Cork Co. has been awarded $12 million for his illness.

According to Law360, Frederick Schulte worked as a ship-fitter and iron-fitter for McDermott In. Shipyard where he regularly dealt with old piping, valves, and gaskets on quarter boats used in World War II. Court documents would later confirm that the piping he handled contained asbestos and was manufactured by Mundet Cork.

Schulte went on to also work at Avondale Shipyards where he was exposed to partitions, furniture, walls, and bulkheads on Coast Guard cutters as radar technician.

In October, 2011 Schulte was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His mesothelioma lawsuit that followed he claimed that the airborne asbestos he inhaled while regularly handling asbestos at his former jobs was the reason for his mesothelioma diagnosis.

In addition to Crown Cork & Seal and Westinghouse, Crane Co., Reilly Benton, International Paper Co., and Crosby Valve, McDermott, and Avondale were also named in the mesothelioma lawsuit for withholding information about the dangers of asbestos.

It only took 10 months following Schulte’s mesothelioma diagnosis for him to receive his lawsuit ruling and $12 million award. (cisionwire.com)

Ted Nugent, Dokken Drummer Arrested in Golf Cart

July 17th, 2012. By AbiK

Ted Nugent drummer and founding member of 80’s heavy metal band Dokken, Mick Brown was arrested last week after he was seen driving drunk in a golf cart. A golf cart he allegedly stole no less.

There’s something sad about this image, of course, if you reflect upon Brown once being atop a Kenworth 18-wheeler banging out “It’s Not Love” in a Dokken video circa 1985—now juxtaposed with the gleeful mug shot of him published circa July 8, 2012 (see pic above, compliments of Bangor, ME police). Brown is now 55. Party on.

Apparently, Ted Nugent was playing a gig in Bangor, ME with Styx (“Laaady…when you’re with me I’m smiling…”) and REO Speedwagon (“…and I’m gonna keep on lovin’ youuu…”). Afterward Brown allegedly took the opportunity to snag a golf cart (whose who knows?) and start tooling around a bit recklessly on a “foot path”.  After security officers got a tip about Brown’s joyride, they tried to stop Brown. He, however, allegedly sped past them and also shoved one of the officers.

According to the LA Times, Brown was finally stopped in his golf cart tracks and he was booked on the following charges: operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, driving to endanger, theft and assault. Brown was released on $4,000 bail.

The Times article also notes damage to two traffic cones—as mentioned in the official police report. Here’s the excerpt: “Officer Jordan reported that about a minute later he observed the golf cart with two women also on board near the Railroad Street grade crossing… No damage was reported to the cart although two traffic cones were damaged, one still under the cart, significantly so.”

At press time, no word on the cones’ condition. Or if Brown is still looking as giddy as he does here.

Is Your Car’s ‘Black Box’ Data Fair Game In An Accident?

July 16th, 2012. By AbiK

Bet you didn’t even realize your car might have a ‘black box’—one of those event data recorders (EDR) that you usually hear in reference to rescue workers mining through some airplane wreckage after a flight’s gone down. Well, while it’s not required by law, if your car has airbags, there’s a very good chance it also has an EDR in it (you can check your owner’s manual to find out, though the NHTSA states 91.6 percent of light vehicles already had them as of 2011).

And, depending on what state you live in, the information that could be recorded on your EDR in the event of a car accident could virtually be fair game for police or insurance companies.

The name ‘EDR’ comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) where a car EDR is defined as:

“A function or device installed in a motor vehicle to record technical vehicle and occupant information for a brief period of time (seconds, not minutes) before, during and after a crash for the purpose of monitoring and assessing vehicle safety system performance. For instance, EDRs may record (1) pre-crash vehicle dynamics and system status, (2) driver inputs, (3) vehicle crash signature, (4) restraint usage/deployment status, and (5) post-crash data such as the activation of an automatic collision notification (ACN) system.”

While a lot of folks refer to the EDR as the more  commonly heard ‘black box’ from airplanes, trains and ships—there is a difference.  A black box data recorder records information continuously during the entire time the airplane or train is in operation. By contrast, a car’s EDR only records the brief period of time just before an accident would occur.

So speaking of a possible car crash, who exactly has access to that EDR data if you should have a car accident? Currently, 13 states have privacy laws in place that protect EDR data. However, according to the NHTSA, “Courts can subpoena EDR data through court orders, and some States collect data under their existing State laws governing crash investigations. Some insurance policies may have contract terms related to data collection from EDRs.”

And EDR data has been used in some court cases as evidence.

But car accident lawyer Rex Parris, of R. Rex Parris Law Firm in Lancaster, CA doesn’t think EDR’s are a bad thing. Parris, who’s also the mayor of Lancaster, CA, was recently interviewed by KTVU Channel 2 News on the subject. According to the KTVU interview, Parris says, “It gives us a lot of information that would shorten trials, and—in many, many cases—remove the necessity of a trial.”

“It has the effect of keeping people honest,” said Parris. ” You know, you’re not gonna lie about your speed. You’re not gonna lie about what happened, because there’s evidence saying what happened.”

California, the state in which Parris practices law, is one of the 13 states with laws protecting EDR data privacy. California law prohibits any download of that data without the owner’s permission or a court order. Aside from California, the other states with such privacy laws are: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

But state laws vary and there is currently no standard for car manufacturers regarding which event data the EDRs should record. As such, there is a bill winding its way through Congress right now—Senate Bill 1813 (Section 31406)—aka MAP-21—that seeks to not only mandate installation of EDRs in all new cars starting in 2015, but also standardize which events the EDRs can capture. The bill already passed the Senate in March.

In terms of data privacy, should the bill go through, it specifies that the vehicle’s owner would have access to the data on collected on it—here are the Limitations on Information Retrieval from the bill:

(1) OWNERSHIP OF DATA- Any data in an event data recorder required under part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, regardless of when the passenger motor vehicle in which it is installed was manufactured, is the property of the owner, or in the case of a leased vehicle, the lessee of the passenger motor vehicle in which the data recorder is installed.

(2) PRIVACY- Data recorded or transmitted by such a data recorder may not be retrieved by a person other than the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle in which the recorder is installed unless–

(A) a court authorizes retrieval of the information in furtherance of a legal proceeding;

(B) the owner or lessee consents to the retrieval of the information for any purpose, including the purpose of diagnosing, servicing, or repairing the motor vehicle;

(C) the information is retrieved pursuant to an investigation or inspection authorized under section 1131(a) or 30166 of title 49, United States Code, and the personally identifiable information of the owner, lessee, or driver of the vehicle and the vehicle identification number is not disclosed in connection with the retrieved information; or

(D) the information is retrieved for the purpose of determining the need for, or facilitating, emergency medical response in response to a motor vehicle crash.

The bill, however, still needs to get through the House. So stay tuned.

 

Colorado Health Warns Dr. Stephen Stein Patients To Get Tested for HIV, Hepatitis

July 14th, 2012. By AbiK

LawyersandSettlements.com just posted about an important alert from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment—patients of facial and oral surgeon, Dr. Stephen Stein, who had practices in Highlands Ranch, CO and Denver, CO—are urged to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Patients of Dr. Stein may have been exposed to infection, the Colorado health department reports, as Stein had been found to have re-used needles for procedures on multiple patients.

This CBS News video provides more information, and concerned patients can find more information by reading the FAQs posted by the Colorado department of health.

MSNBC Video: Maybe Propecia Side Effects Don’t Ever Go Away

July 13th, 2012. By AbiK

Not good news for the men who allege they’ve been affected by Propecia side effects including sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction and even infertility. Check out the msnbc video below—and if you’re considering legal help yourself after taking the hair loss drug, you can fill out a Propecia complaint form here.