Pennsylvania, West Virginia Residents Seeking Asbestosis Compensation

Charleston, WVA couple from Zelienople, Pennsylvania, has filed a lawsuit against 103 different companies claiming they share the blame for the husband's December 2009 asbestosis diagnosis.

According to the West Virginia Record, the lawsuit claims Jeffrey Pandocchi was diagnosed with the deadly asbestos-related disease on December 8, 2009. The lawsuit was filed in May in Kanawha Circuit Court in West Virginia, the news source said.

In the asbestosis lawsuit, Pandocchi claims he was exposed to asbestos-containing products while he was employed with a number of the defendants. Additionally, the suit accuses other defendants of failing to properly warn him of the dangers posed by products containing the carcinogenic material.

In addition to this alleged negligence, Pandocchi claims the defendants did not recommend new strategies for improving the work environment or to manufacture products that did not contain asbestos.

The asbestosis lawsuit, which names companies such as Allegheny Energy, Nagle Pumps and American Electric Power Company as defendants, also accuses the companies of continuing "to use a known cancer-causing product."

Asbestos, which has been used in a variety of industries since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, is a known carcinogen. Since the mid-1960s, it has been known that exposure to the substance can cause lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that attacks the membranes surrounding most of the body's internal organs.

According to the World Health Organization, such illnesses kill approximately 107,000 people around the world each year.

The Pennsylvania couple is hardly the first to file an asbestos lawsuit, however, as another complaint was filed recently in Kanawah Circuit Court by a West Virginia woman who claims a number of companies caused her husband to develop asbestosis, which ultimately killed him.

According to the Record, the lawsuit, which was filed on May 25, claims Howard William was diagnosed with asbestosis in May 2010 after he reportedly worked for Union Carbide from 1944 to 1978.

Barton's wife, Joan, claims her deceased husband was exposed to asbestos while employed by the company, according to the complaint. As a result of this, Joan Barton is reportedly seeking damages and has requested that the suit be resolved by a jury trial, the news source said.

in addition to Union Carbide, some of the defendants named in Barton's asbestosis lawsuit include large firms such as Riley Power, Chicago Pump Company and Lockheed Martin, according to the news source.