Posts Tagged ‘ mesothelioma ’
Asbestos News Roundup: 10.20.11
October 20th, 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 Illness in Iron Range Workers
Northeastern MN: News reports indicate that the 82 people who worked in the notorious Iron Range have died from a rare form of lung cancer. The number of fatalities has risen from 63 reported by state health officials in 2010. The increase, state officials say, is attributable to death record checks of former Iron Range workers in other states, people who moved away from Minnesota. The statistics were released by the University of Minnesota team leading the long-term Taconite Workers Health Study.
The lead researcher on the study, Dr. Jeffrey Mandel with the university’s School of Public Health, said a “back-of-the-envelope” analysis revealed a considerably higher rate of mesothelioma—higher than it should be. “But we are still doing the analysis to find out how much so,” Mandel said in a telephone news conference. It also remains unclear where the victims were exposed to asbestos.
While earlier reports on the increase in the number of asbestos-related illnesses found in former Iron Range workers were thought to be due to workers earlier exposure to asbestos found in commercial products such as insulation materials for pipes, furnaces and boilers, it now appears that the increase could be due directly to Taconite exposure, however this remains to be confirmed. “We’ve basically concluded our data collection phase,” said John Finnegan, dean of the university’s School of Public Health. “It’s an enormous number of people we have data on now…people who worked in mining back to the 1920s.”
Preliminary analyses show that 1,681 taconite workers, of about 46,000 born since 1920 who worked in the industry, developed some sort of lung cancer. However, the exact cause is unclear, and whether or not the rate of asbestos illness is higher than normal.
The five part study is looking at occupational exposures to determine how and where the asbestos came from; a mortality study that reviews the cause of death for deceased taconite workers; a cancer incidence study to see whether cancer rates are higher on the Iron Range; an environmental study of current airborne particulates to check for asbestos levels; and a respiratory health study of living taconite workers and their spouses. Results from each study will be made public after they are completed, and a final, overall report is expected after that. (Canadianbusiness.com)
Asbestos Law
Vancouver, BC: A demolition contractor from the Metro Vancouver area, who is facing charges of exposing unprotected workers to asbestos, has been found in contempt of court and may be going to jail. Arthur Moore allegedly hired teenagers as young as 14 to demolish asbestos-laden houses without protection, the BC Court of Appeals was told. He hired the students because they needed cash. He also hired recovering addicts from addiction recovery houses in Surrey, BC.
“His conduct grievously endangered workers under his direction,” Justice Ian Donald ruled this week, finding Moore guilty of contempt. “Unless he can in some way mitigate his indifference to the lives and safety of his workers and his open defiance of the injunction, his misconduct requires a severe response.”
According to a news report in BClocalnews.com the B.C. Court of Appeals has ordered that Arthur Moore be arrested for violating an August 2010 court injunction that indefinitely barred him from operating his Surrey-based asbestos and drywall removal business. Moore is to be sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court after his arrest. (BClocalnews.com)
Asbestos News Roundup: 9.29.11
September 29th, 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: Craig Hirsch filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 41 defendant companies, who, he alleges, caused him to develop lung cancer after his exposure to asbestos-containing products.
Throughout his career Hirsch worked as a boiler tender for the U.S. Navy at the Chicago Training Center in Chicago from 1960 until 1962, as an operator at Ford Motor Co. from 1964 until 1966, as a repairman and operator at Ford Motor Co. from 1964 until 1966, as a repairman and operator at Detroit Diesel in Michigan from 1965 until 1983 and as a pipefitter for Consumers Power in Michigan in 1969, according to his lawsuit.
Hirsch claims that the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for his safety. Consequently, he developed asbestos-related diseases, became disabled and disfigured, incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish, the lawsuit states. Moreover, he became prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued to him, the plaintiffs claim.
In his five-count complaint, Hirsch is seeking a judgment of more than $50,000, plus punitive Read the rest of this entry »
Asbestos News Roundup: 9.23.11
September 23rd, 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
Jefferson County, TX: The widow and children of a man who recently died after developing pulmonary asbestosis, have filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging that John Dixon Sr., developed the illness and died as a result of spending a career working around products that contained asbestos.
Agnes Dixon, Jane Lampman, Molly Abshier and John Dixon Jr. filed a lawsuit against E.I. Dupont De Nemours and Company, Tin Inc. formerly known as Temple Inland Forest Products, Tin Inc. formerly known as Temple-Eastex, Inland Paper Board and Packaging, Temple Inland, Inland Container, Inland Orange and Owens Illinois.
They allege John Dixon Sr., was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers throughout his career at DuPont and Owens Illinois. As a result, he developed pulmonary asbestosis and died on Sept. 20, 2010. Dixon’s widow and children also allege that the defendants negligently failed to warn workers of the dangers of asbestos exposure. In their complaint, the plaintiffs seek exemplary and punitive damages, plus damages and court costs. (SETexasrecord.com)
Asbestos Settlements
Libby, MT: People suffering from asbestos-related illnesses including asbestosis and mesothelioma have been awarded a $43 million settlement by a judge in Montana. The people were made ill as a result of their exposure to asbestos from the infamous W.R. Grace asbestos mine in Libby, Montana. Reports indicate that a large part of the settlement will be paid by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed against the state and the mine by former miners and their families who accused the state of failing to properly oversee the mine or warn workers of dangers there. Miners had originally sued W.R. Grace but after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001, they sued the state for failing to adequately protect them, court documents state.
Some 1,400 people are expected to receive payouts from the settlement, which was approved September 8, by Montana District Court Judge Jeffrey M. Sherlock, ending ten years of legal wrangling. However, while the settlement ends numerous cases and claims against Montana it “expressly reserves their claims against all other responsible parties,” according to the agreement.
Many of the victims of asbestos exposure from the Libby mine are now over 65, and others have since died of asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis and cancers such as mesothelioma, records show. (Insurancejournal.com)
Los Angeles, CA: The family of Merlin Olsen, a Hall of Fame football player and actor, has reached a settlement in their asbestos lawsuit. Olsen’s family alleged in their suit that Olsen was exposed to asbestos-containing products throughout the course of his career working on construction sites, which he did in his youth. The lawsuit was filed against several asbestos companies that the family say caused the rare form of cancer Olsen developed late in life. The settlement includes 10 companies that made or used the asbestos-containing products.
A notice of settlement was filed by the attorneys for Olsen’s wife and children in Los Angeles. No further details were provided. Olsen, who was a member of the Los Angeles Rams “Fearsome Foursome” in the 1960s, died in March 2010 after losing his fight against asbestos mesothelioma. (Forbes.com)
Simmons Firm Lawyers Give Millions to Mesothelioma Research
April 5th, 2011. By BrendaC
Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Illinois attorney Mike Angelides of Simmons, Browder, Gianaris, Angelides & Barnerd…
Attorney Mike Angelides: “Our lawyers see how this affects families…that is what has led to a culture…of giving back to this community.”
- Holding the plaque The Simmons Law Firm received from the Mesothelioma Foundation are, from left to right: Gregg Kirkland, COO; John Simmons, Chairman & CEO; Michael Angelides, Managing Partner
The Simmons firm in Illinois is well-known for litigating on behalf of people whose lives have been affected by exposure to asbestos. The firm, you might say, has also been very willing to put its money where its mouth is, and over the last several years has pledged some $20 million to mesothelioma and cancer research.
“I think all of us here would be very happy if we never had to see one of these cases again,” says the firm’s managing partner Mike Angelides. “I wish I never had to see a family go through the heartache and agony of having to deal with this disease. It would be great to find a cure and put this disease to rest.”
Compared to other types of cancer, mesothelioma affects relatively few people and as a result attracts fewer research dollars.
“It is an ‘orphan cancer’,” says Angelides. “Although it affects about 2,500 Americans every year, it only receives about 1/10 of one percent of all cancer research funding. We really see it as our moral obligation to help this community, because quite frankly, if we don’t help them, no one will,” says Angelides.
Although it can be decades before the signs and symptoms of mesothelioma appear, even the slightest exposure to asbestos can lead to mesothelioma or another asbestos-related cancer. Those affected are usually people who have been exposed to asbestos at their place of work at some point during their lives. They can be pipefitters, or construction workers or factory workers—any worker whose job entailed working with either asbestos itself, or components or parts which contained the deadly asbestos fibers.
There are few treatments and no cure for asbestos mesothelioma. The lungs fill with cancerous tumors and mesothelioma patients literally suffocate to death.
“This is such a terribly aggressive cancer, fast moving, always terminal, very painful,” says Angelides whose firm has battled dozens of companies over the last 11 years to challenge their careless exposure of workers to asbestos fibers.
“Our lawyers see how this affects families and what people suffer and what they go through. That is what has led to a culture at the Simmons firm of giving back to this community,” he adds.
The Simmons firm recently donated $250,000 to the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, a non-profit foundation that funds research and provides education and support for patients and their families. The Simmons firm is the Foundation’s largest aggregate donor and has given the Foundation a total of $2 million over the last decade.
Through its own charitable organization, the Simmons Mesothelioma Research Organization, the firm has pledged or given millions of dollars worth of grants to US universities that do mesothelioma research including the University of Chicago, Columbia University in New York and the University of California at San Francisco.
And in Springfield, Illinois, the firm donated $11 million to build the Simmons Cancer Institute currently operating at the Southern Illinois University to address and serve the needs of people with all types of cancer.
The money comes in part from community-based fund raising efforts, but most it comes from the verdicts and settlements the Simmons firm has obtained over the last decade.
The tradition of giving back comes from the firm’s founder.
“This is the philosophy that our founder and current chairman, John Simmons, has had ever since he started the firm and he has really impressed upon us the importance of contributing and giving back to this community,” says Angelides, “and it has really been an honor for us to have been successful enough to do that.”
Mike Angelides is a partner in the firm of Simmons, Browder, Gianaris, Angelides & Barnerd (known as the Simmons firm). The firm has recovered approximately $3 billion on behalf of hundreds of families affected by mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancers. Mike Angelides is a frequent speaker at asbestos-related legal conferences.
Asbestos Companies Covers Blown—Decades Too Late
May 26th, 2010. By janem
As early as the 1930s executives at companies where asbestos was mined and/or used have been covering up the dangers of asbestos disease to their employees. These execs didn’t suffer from asbestosis or die from mesothelioma; instead they wrote thousands upon thousands of death sentences by hiding or destroying asbestos warning memos from doctors, unions and even insurance companies.
Instead, they paid off many sick workers and made them promise never to tell their co-workers about their disease. Recently, some of these hidden documents have been found and you can read this one online. They are chilling, to say the least, and prove without a doubt that these despicable companies knew and concealed the hazards of asbestos for decades.
“…if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products, why not die from it.” – 1966 memo by the Director of Purchasing for Bendix Corporation, now a part of Honeywell, to Canadian Johns Manville Co. in Asbestos, Quebec.
The Trinity of Evil: Bendix Corporation, Manville and W.R. Grace.
Manville filed for bankruptcy in 1982 after settling so many asbestos liability claims. This is a convoluted story, so please bear with me: In 1986 a judge approved a settlement that created the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust to settle asbestos claims.
Manville’s liability insurers, of which Travelers was the primary, contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the trust in exchange for immunity from future claims related to Manville’s liability insurance policies. This arrangement was subsequently in more than 40 other asbestos cases and Congress wrote it into law. It also meant that asbestos claimants and others who were a part of the 1986 agreement could not make future claims or challenge the bankruptcy.
In 2001, new plaintiffs sued Travelers of conspiring with Manville to hide the dangers of asbestos from the public. One of the plaintiffs was Chubb Indemnity Insurance Co, an asbestos industry liability insurer with its own asbestos claims.
In 2004 Travelers paid $500 million to the plaintiffs in exchange for an order from the bankruptcy court that the original 1986 agreement barred future lawsuits. Just two months ago, a ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed rulings by a district court and bankruptcy court related to Travelers’ involvement with Johns Manville Corp and Chubb can now sue Travelers Insurance Cos-because Chubb was not a part of that 1986 agreement, unlike countless asbestos victims.
Grace is doubly despicable. Not only did it know in 1960 when it took over the Libby mine that vermiculate could kill people-and continues to potentially harm about 30 million Americans who have the product in their homes-the company didn’t even file for bankruptcy honestly. In May 2002, the Justice Department charged that Grace “removed billions of dollars of assets against which parties who were injured or damaged by Grace’s asbestos-containing material had claims”. Grace could get slapped with a $280 million fine and executives may face up to 70 years in prison.
One can only hope their cells are contaminated with asbestos fibers
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