Posts Tagged ‘ local asbestos ’

Asbestos News Roundup: 6.21.12 – Railway Workers & Asbestos Exposure

June 21st, 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.

Railway Workers and Asbestos Risk

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 five former BNSF railway workers who are now suing the company.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Fort Worth, TX: Five railway workers have filed an asbestos lawsuit against their former employer, BNSF Railway, alleging their diagnoses of lung diseases was caused by exposure to asbestos and other hazardous materials while working for the railway.

Donald Polson, Harvey Bass, Robert Brabbin, Joe Gilliam and William King, who live in Fort Worth, Arlington and Cleburne respectively, claim BNSF managers knew that prolonged exposure to asbestos could cause illness, but that they failed to warn the employees of those dangers.

According to the lawsuit, some of the plaintiffs worked for the railroad for more than 30 years; Polson worked there 44 years, until 2001.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs worked in and around engines, boilers, railroad tracks and other areas where they were exposed to asbestos and other substances without protection. As a result of their exposure to dust, fumes and vapors, the men contracted lung diseases that diminished their quality of life and reduced their life expectancy – they have been diagnosed with asbestosis and silicosis, according to their lawyer.

“At all times relevant, the plaintiffs were unaware of the dangerous propensities of the harmful/hazardous materials with which they were required to work with and around,” the lawsuit states. They were not aware of the hazards associated with exposure to asbestos and other substances until less than three years before filing the suit, it states. The lawsuit also states that although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration banned asbestos in construction in the 1970s, railroads continued using it although the companies were aware of the health risks.

The lawsuit also accuses BNSF of violating the Federal Employment Liability Act and the Locomotive Boiler Inspection Act. (star-telegram.com)

Charleston, WV: James M. Lawrentz and his wife, Sandra Lawrentz claim have filed an asbesto lawsuit naming 54 companies they allege are responsible for Mr. Lawrentz’s lung cancer diagnosis.

On April 5 Mr. Lawrentz was diagnosed with lung cancer, which, the couple claims resulted from his exposure to asbestos during his career as a millwright and laborer.

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

The 54 companies named as defendants in the suit are: 3M Company; A.W. Chesterton Company; Aurora Pump Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; Buffalo Pumps, Inc.; Caterpillar, Inc.; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Co.; Duavo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Flowserve US, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Ford Motor Company; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; Gardner Denver, Inc.; Genuine Parts Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell Corporation; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; Howden Buffalo, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Inductotherm Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; ITT Corporation; Joy Technologies, Inc.; McJunkin Corporation; Morgan Engineering Systems; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; P&H Mining Equipment, Inc.; Pettibone/Traverse Lift, LLC; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Reading Crane and Engineering Company; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems, LLC; Sunbeam Products, Inc.; Surface Combustion, Inc.; Swindell Dressler International Company; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; The Alliance Machine Company; The Gage Company; UB West Virginia, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viking Pump, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; West Virginia Electric Supply; and Yarway Corporation. (wvrecord.com)

Asbestos Law

Riverside, NJ: Frank J. Rizzo, 53; Michael Kouvaras, 59; and Deuteron Capital LLC, have been indicted by a state grand jury on a dozen charges related to the removal of asbestos from the former Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital.

Deuteron Capital LLC, which was doing business as South Street Fill-it Recycling of Riverside, removed asbestos from the site in an unlawful manner, without a license, and employed workers who were not trained or equipped to properly do the job, according to New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa.

Filed and announced Wednesday, the four-count indictment includes second-degree charges of conspiracy, unlawfully causing the release of a toxic pollutant, and abandonment of toxic pollutants, and a third-degree charge of violation of the Asbestos Control and Licensing Act, for all three defendants. The violation stems from the allegation that the men and their company knowingly had asbestos removal work performed without a license from the state.

The second-degree crimes carry sentences of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. The third-degree offense carries a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. (phillyburbs.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Exposure, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma, Asbestos Settlement, local asbestos, railroad worker
Posted in Asbestos Mesothelioma, lawsuits, Settlement | No Comments »

Asbestos News Roundup: 6.14.12 – Local Asbestos Exposure in Town

June 14th, 2012. By LucyC

Community Asbestos Exposure – Asbestos Around Town

You don’t have to work with asbestos containing products to suffer its effects. It is also possible to suffer asbestos exposure by living in a community or area located near an asbestos mine or a company that manufactures asbestos or products containing asbestos. Many older buildings may also contain asbestos insulation, including schools.

Perhaps the most famous victims of community contamination in North America are the residents of Libby, Montana, an asbestos-mining town. Vermiculite, which naturally contains asbestos, was mined there between 1923 and 1991. Workers and families of workers who lived in the town sued W.R. Grace, the last company to own the mine. At one point the company reportedly faced 110,000 lawsuits for sickening hundreds of people and contributing to the deaths of 225—allegedly with full knowledge.

Other examples of community exposure include the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and areas prone to damage from natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. But it doesn’t take a disaster for asbestos exposure to occur locally in your community—our Asbestos Hot Spot Map shows locations across the US in which asbestos has been an issue and, in many instances, asbestos abatement has been needed.

Asbestos Settlements

Los Angeles, CA: The California 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles has ruled in favor of the wife of a mesothelioma victim who says she is entitled to damages against a manufacturer of asbestos products based on the loss of consortium with her husband.

Frederick Kenney of Fort Jones, CA, sued Tennessee-based auto parts manufacturer Hennessy Industries Inc. and other companies for negligence and products liability based on their use of asbestos products.

Mr. Kenney was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2011 after being exposed to asbestos during his service in the U.S. Navy in the 1950s and 1960s, and when he later worked as a mechanic. His wife, Sherrell Vanhooser, filed a loss of consortium claim against the same defendants. Mesothelioma is a debilitating, deadly form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

In the asbestos lawsuit, attorneys argued that Ms. Vanhooser’s loss of consortium claim should be allowed. However, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge granted Hennessy’s motion for summary judgment based on the argument that Mr. Kenney and his wife were not married until after Mr. Kenney last was exposed to asbestos.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered the trial court to vacate its order granting summary judgment, after finding that “injury to the spouse in the latent disease context occurs when the illness or its symptoms are discovered or diagnosed, not at the time of the tortious act causing the harm.” The case is Vanhooser v. Hennessey, No. BC-468065, in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“This is an important ruling that will have far-reaching impact in asbestos litigation, as trial courts across California have been all over the map on this issue,” says Trey Jones, lead counsel for Ms. Vanhooser. “Husbands and wives are greatly impacted when a spouse develops an asbestos-related disease, so this ruling certainly moves them one step closer to justice.”

New York, NY: The lawsuits of two men who alleged a lifetime of working with asbestos led to their developing mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs have been successfully settled.

The asbestos settlement, consisting of an undisclosed payment said by the firm to be “substantial,” will benefit the families of the men. In a statement issued by attorneys for the plaintiffs, the settlement has come some time after both plaintiffs had already succumbed to lung cancer, with one man showing signs of pleural mesothelioma, a form of cancer closely associated with occupational inhalation of asbestos.

The two men, both long time sheet metal workers, were also Navy veterans. The Navy veterans’ asbestos lawsuits were challenging because although the men served in the Navy and were exposed to asbestos on certain ships or bases, they had no fellow service people who could verify that.

“Our clients, however, also worked at construction sites, and we were eventually able to locate several coworkers who testified to our clients’ presence near people working with asbestos-insulated valves, boilers and gaskets, among other products. They would cut these products and scrape off debris with wire brushes, which, according to the coworkers’ testimony, would send clouds of asbestos into the air. A chain of exposure like this makes for a very strong case,” said lawyers for Weitz & Luxenberg, who represented the plaintiffs. The men’s cases settled in the final days of five-week trial. (marketwatch.com)

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Exposure, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma, asbestos mine, Asbestos Settlement, local asbestos
Posted in Asbestos Mesothelioma, Emerging Issues, lawsuits, Settlement | No Comments »