Asbestos News Roundup: 11.18.11

November 18th, 2011. 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.

Asbestos Lawsuits

St. Clair County, IL: An asbestos lawsuit naming 66 defendant companies was recently filed by Robert and Darla Mazenko. The couple claim in their lawsuit that the defendant companies caused Robert Mazenko developed lung cancer as a result of his exposure to asbestos-containing products throughout his career, and that the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for the plaintiffs’ safety.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Mazenko worked as a boiler tender in the U.S. Navy from 1957 until 1961, as a bundler, forklift and crane operator at U.S. Steel from 1961 until 1972 and worked as an equipment operator from 1971 until 2002.

The Mazenkos claim that as a result of his asbestos-related disease, Robert Mazenko has become disabled and disfigured, and has incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish, the complaint says. In addition, he became prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued.

In their 10-count complaint, the Mazenkos are seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, punitive and exemplary damages of more than $150,000, economic damages of more than $150,000, compensatory damages of more than $100,000, punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish the defendants and other relief the court deems just. (madisonrecord.com)

Beaumont, TX: Chevron USA and Texaco have been named as defendants in an asbestos lawsuit, by the family of the late Samuel Ozen Sr.

Mildren Ozen, the widow of Samuel Ozen, together with their children filed the lawsuit alleging that Samuel was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers while employed by Texaco in Port Arthur, The suit does not give dates of employment. “As a result of such exposure, Ozen developed … pulmonary asbestosis, for which he died a painful and terrible death on March 1, 2010,” the Ozen’s lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges the defendants knew for decades that asbestos exposure caused cancer but still allowed employees to work with asbestos products. (SETexsrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: Mr. and Mrs. Hall have filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 28 companies as defendants, alleging they are responsible for Denver Hall’s lung cancer diagnosis.

On November 10, 2009, Mr. Hall was diagnosed with lung cancer, according to the lawsuit. The Halls allege that during Mr. Hall’s employment with Pennzoil and Pennzenergy, from 1974 until 1999, Mr. Hall was exposed to asbestos fibers. And, the suit goes on, the defendants failed to warn or advise Mr. Hall of the dangers associated with asbestos and asbestos-related products, and omitted to place any warnings or sufficient warnings on their containers of asbestos and asbestos materials to warn the handlers of its dangers.

The lawsuit also claims the defendants failed or omitted to provide Mr. Hall with the knowledge as to what would be reasonably safe and sufficient clothing and proper protective equipment.

Mr. Hall and his wife, Suzanna Hall, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. (WVRecord.com)

Alert: Whirlpool Dishwasher Fires Lead to Class Action Lawsuit

November 18th, 2011. By AbiK

A class action lawsuit is always news around here, but a lawsuit that arises from a multitude of consumers complaining about fires erupting from their Whirlpool dishwashers is cause for an APB. So please pass this along for everyone’s safety.

A class action lawsuit has been filed in California alleging that Whirlpool (manufacturer of Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Sears Kenmore dishwashers) knew of a product defect in their dishwashers but hid that information from the public.

According to a grassroots consumer complaint website (kitchenaidfire.com), Whirlpool dishwasher owners report that the fires appear to have started in the machines’ control circuit boards. The video from WPRI.com above shows where the dishwasher fire originated for one owner.

Metallica Drummer Accused of Stiffing P.A. Settles Lawsuit

November 17th, 2011. By AbiK

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich recently settled a wage and hour lawsuit that had been filed by a former personal assistant, Steven Wiig. Wiig claimed a whole bunch of labor law violations: years of unpaid overtime (years!) along with alleged state and federal labor violations, breach of oral contract and continuing wages.

Yep, your run-of-the-mill California overtime lawsuit… NOT! We’re talking METALLICA!

Now, “Metallica” tends to conjure up headbanging images—think Beavis and Butthead (heh-heh)—and a lot of what some folks would call noise. Case in point, their live “Enter Sandman” video showcases some of those whiplash-inducing moves the band is famous for—and famous they are with that video alone having over 52,000,000 views on youtube. They’re the stuff of (hard) rock legend…off to never-never land! (In fairness, they’ve got some memorable ballads in their repertoire as well—like “Nothing Else Matters” (see video above)).

Ok. So they’re rock stars. And unless much has changed in the last oh, fifty plus years, rock stars tend to be magnets when it comes to wannabes wanting coveted jobs like “personal assistant”. Hell, it’s a twenty year old’s fantasy…screw getting a desk job after 4 years of hitting the books. Hit drop/add with the emphasis on “drop” and hit the road. Yeah, you’re down with the roadies, groupies, parties and perks. The all-access pass to backstage glam and prestige…you’re with the band now, man…(& you can advertise that fact with the t-shirt at right, at zazzle.com).

Oh wait—you expected to be paid on an hourly basis as well? And given a bonus each year? Ahh, but see—as with any situation where supply exceeds demand, prices get driven down. Lots of available labor? Labor gets cheap, right? And maybe that’s when labor starts to get—or at least feel—abused.

Hey, you wanted to be with the band…

So here we are with Lars Ulrich getting sued by his personal assistant. It’s an interesting case—similar to the PR hacks complaining not long ago about their compensation—because clearly this guy, Wiig, put up with the deal for “years” (2001-2009).  A decade. Why hang so long in a gig that you think is screwing you over?

According to the Marin Independent Journal, Wiig acted as Ulrich’s chauffeur, managed his art collection, handled his scheduling and “other tasks and errands” upon request. That translated to around 70 hours a week, which was upped to 80 hours a week when Metallica was on tour.

Wiig claimed he performed those duties for $45,000 a year. He also claims to have had a verbal agreement (red flag!) for annual bonuses. Of course, according to marinij.com, Ulrich’s side claims Wiig received $110,000 a year before bonuses, free rent and a free car. I suppose only the tax man knows for sure (wink-wink).

At any rate, the two sides have settled (terms not disclosed). My guess is that Wiig came out ahead on this one—but what to do now? Oh yeah, write a memoir “Snared: My Life with Lars Ulrich and Metallica”.

CL&P Class Action Filed for Storm Response

November 15th, 2011. By AbiK

If there’s an award for the most “Aw, shucks” spirit when it comes to being on the receiving end of some slight, mishap or wrongdoing, it goes to some business owners in Granby and East Granby, CT, who seemingly don’t feel that the CL&P response to the recent storm outages was inadequate.

Yes, there’s something to be said for having a nonchalant approach to whatever life throws your way. Probably good for one’s blood pressure and risk of stroke. That’s the plus side of the coin—but as always, there’s a flip side to that coin and in this instance the flip side equates mediocrity.

Remember that recent end-of-October snowstorm that unexpectedly hammered the northeast? Remember reading about the millions of home and business owners who were stranded with out power for days on end? Well, a funny thing happened. Those folks (most of them) who were supported by companies like PSE&G in NJ found themselves with restored power within three days of the outage; in fact, PSE&G reported to its customers on November 1st that service had been restored to almost 90 percent of those who’d been affected by the storm.

That’s right. Ninety percent in three days.

And how many customers had power restored within three days in Connecticut? Well, if you go with reports that indicated some 955,000 Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) customers lost power due to the storm and that as of November 1st only 275,000 had their power restored, that comes to about twenty-nine percent.

On a personal level, here at LawyersandSettlements.com, some of our staff is based in NJ and some in CT. Our NJ team was up and running at full speed again by Tuesday morning—so they were powerless for just over two days. Our CT team was still charging up smartphones in their cars and running over to Starbuck’s to hop on the wifi there. Until Saturday afternoon—November 5th. They went a week without power, without heat.

Now, there are plenty of folks in CT who are riled up about this—it’s been all over the news with CT Governor Malloy demanding a full in-depth review of CL&P’s response. There has also been a class action lawsuit filed (by Scott Simmons who owns a hair salon in Canton) that seeks $1,000 in damages. But it’s not about the money—according to an article at The Farmington Patch, it’s about finding out why CL&P’s response was so lousy.

And that brings us to our “Aw, shucks” award. According to a recent article over at The Granbys Patch, some business owners don’t see the need for a class action lawsuit. And maybe they’re right…had the CL&P response been anywhere in the ballpark of CT’s neighboring states. But it wasn’t.

Here’s an example, from The Granbys Patch,  of that “aw, shucks” sentiment about the situation—from business owner Lori Love who owns Granby Village Health:

When asked, however, if she is thinking of joining the class action lawsuit, Love replied, “Unequivocally, no.” 

“Did anyone take a look at the number of trees down?” Love asked rhetorically. “Nobody can criticize for one minute how hard CL&P [employees] have worked. People are just looking for someone to blame and be angry at. 

“What if they had emergency crews on standby? What would that do to our rates? There’s no point [to joining a lawsuit]. It doesn’t serve a purpose. Let’s just get things fixed and move on and get paid back from the insurance company, to which I pay a monthly premium.”

No one can criticize how hard CL&P employees have worked? How about how hard the management there has “worked”? And why were NJ residents—who were afflicted with just as many trees and power lines down—having their power restored so quickly compared to CT? Something doesn’t seem right, right?

And what about the “Let’s just get things fixed and move on and get paid back from the insurance company” bit? Hey, I’m sure everyone’s for moving on and putting this mess in the rearview mirror. But, does anyone really think that without any impetus—say, a lawsuit or official investigation—that CL&P is just going to invest in some Six Sigma deep dive to review and improve its emergency response processes? Yeah, right. Oh, and your insurance check is in the mail, too.

CL&P barely hit the mark of mediocrity on this one. And it was glaring because it’s as if someone set up—quite serendipitously—an A/B test in which CT was “A” and NJ was “B” and the variable being tested was what power company was involved. Kind of hard to hide behind the “unusual circumstances” of the storm then.

So CL&P has some explaining to do. And if a class action lawsuit provides some motivation, so be it.

By the way, as of this writing, CL&P had announced the establishment of a storm fund to help reimburse customers for reported losses. The fund was set at $10 million. You do the math—based on the reported 955,000 customers who were powerless, that would come to $10.47 per customer. You can bet that $10.47 will go a long way to compensating folks for all the food they had to ditch once it got beyond that “safe for 48 hours” window.

Regardless, for those CT residents who would like to participate in a survey that ostensibly will be used to establish how CL&P’s storm fund will be distributed, you can do so at the United Way of Connecticut 211 website. The link to the survey is here.

To our Veterans, Heartfelt Thanks

November 11th, 2011. By AbiK

Happy Veteran’s Day to all those who served and continue to serve to keep our nation safe and free. Thank you.

If you’d like to help those who’ve served, please take a look at some of the volunteer opportunities below.

Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is where you can sign up to help provide transportation to vets who are unable to get to VA medical facilities themselves.

If you’re a pet lover, head over to Guardian Angels for Soldiers’ Pets. That’s where you can help take in a veteran’s pet while he or she is either serving our nation or receiving care at a VA medical facility.

Handy? Help ensure a wounded vet has a roof over his—and his family’s—head. Visit Homes for our Troops to find out where new homes are being built and how you can get involved or donate materials.

Just want to say “thank you” to a vet who’s currently serving? Send a care package (or make a monetary or packaged goods donation to support the creation of care packages). Here are a few websites to check out: Operation USO Care Package, Give 2 the Troops, and Soldier Packages.