Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog

According to a recent news report from Fox, a local commercial contractor has filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago for what they allege amounted to fraudulently hiding the presence of asbestos when soliciting bids for the project.

The City was looking for a contractor to handle construction of a police station on the site of an old and abandoned public housing project. After the city awarded plaintiff this contract, plaintiff set out to begin demolition of the remaining structure and construction of the new police station.

While working on the job, a subcontractor broke through the ground and discovered pipes running below the job site wrapped in insulation they highly suspected was made from asbestos. The contractor was gravely concerned, and, according to statements, they were dealing with non-contained, friable asbestos, which was being released into the air.
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While it is now common knowledge asbestos can lead to a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma, many people do not realize how prevalent asbestos use was during much of the last two centuries and how likely they are to encounter asbestos in the course of their daily lives.

According to a recent news report from The Hill, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois Is pushing for national asbestos reporting requirements. Durbin’s new bill, titled The Reducing Exposure to Asbestos Database (READ), would require establishment of a national asbestos registry.

Specifically, READ aims to modernize the seemingly outdated asbestos reporting requirements already in existence though the use of an online database, which is easily searchable by the general public. Durbin’s READ act would also require the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain the new database.
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Asbestos is present in many buildings and other structures throughout the world. It is still used in new construction in developing nations, due to its cheap cost and effectiveness at resisting heat, fire, caustic chemicals and electricity, despite known dangers to humans.

Asbestos fibers can become lodged in a layer of tissue known as the mesothelium, where they can metastasize into a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma. There is no way for doctors to detect presence of these fibers in human lungs, as they are microscopic, nor is there any way to remove the fibers. However, it typically takes 20 to 50 years for victims to develop noticeable symptoms, so unscrupulous business owners are often still willing to risk workers’ lives and safety due to the long period of time it takes an individual to become detectably ill.

One rather tragic recent example is illustrated in a news article from Insurance Journal. According to federal prosecutors, a government agency hired three defendants to demolish part of a now-closed airbase and turn it into an automotive training facility. Contractors allegedly used high school vocational students for much of the demolition work without telling them there was asbestos in the building. Even if they had told students about asbestos being present, it would still be illegal to use unsupervised workers during an asbestos abatement (removal) project under state and local law.
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Humans have used asbestos for thousands of years, but it was not until the industrial revolution when it was heavily mined and used in virtually every aspect of manufacturing, construction, and transportation sectors. Asbestos is a naturally occurring silica material generally harvested through mining operations.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, as the general public became aware of the dangers associated with asbestos, state and federal government agencies banned a majority of asbestos use in the United States. The danger of asbestos is that fibers can be inhaled and become lodged in the protective layer of tissue, known as the mesothelium, which lines the chest, lungs, chest, and abdomen. Once the fibers become trapped in the mesothelium, it can metastasize into a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma. It can also cause devastating scarring of the lung tissue, known as asbestosis, and other serious respiratory illnesses.

While asbestos is no longer commonly used, we are far from being rid of it, as it is found in many buildings throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Once a building deteriorates to the point of crumbling, or property owners wish to renovate or demolish a structure containing asbestos, the public and workers are put at risk for exposure. For this reason, asbestos abatement (removal) must be done with a strict adherence to state and federal law.

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Department of Labor Standards (DLS) Asbestos Program is responsible for regulation of asbestos abatement and occupational asbestos safety. According to Asbestos Program guidelines, all personnel dealing with asbestos must be certified. This includes asbestos contractors, asbestos inspectors, management planners, project designers, supervisors, training providers and asbestos workers.
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When we think of people developing mesothelioma from asbestos exposure, we often think of large corporate defendants, such as factory owners, shipping companies and construction companies. However, even a small-scale asbestos removal project can pose serious risks to those working on the job and other members of the community living and working in close proximity to the job site.

While asbestos was used in virtually every aspect of industry during much of the past two centuries, its use was extremely prevalent in residential and commercial construction products. Due to its natural ability to resist heat, fire, chemicals, and electricity, asbestos-containing products were often used as insulation material, floor and wall tiles, drywall and drywall joint compounds (construction grade plastic cement or “gun cement”), and roofing materials such as shingles.

Much of the floor tiles and linoleum flooring installed prior to the 1980s is known to contain asbestos. While there is no way to determine whether your tiles contain asbestos without a certificate of origin or a study including microscopic analysis, there are some telltale signs. For example, dimensional linoleum tiles installed from the 1940s through the 1980s in sizes such as 9″x 9″ or 12″ x 12″ are extremely likely to contain asbestos.
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While many mesothelioma victims were directly exposed to asbestos on the job, they have may have unknowingly exposed their family members when returning home from work in clothing covered with asbestos dust.

According to a recent news article from Owensboro Messenger, a woman is suing several large corporations including General Electric, Big Rivers Electric Corporation, and Alcoa for negligence in connection with her mesothelioma diagnosis. Victim first went to see a doctor complaining of shortness of breath. Her doctor soon diagnosed her with malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma very rarely occurs without patient having been exposed to asbestos fibers.

According to her complaint for civil negligence, she was exposed to asbestos from her husband’s work clothes. He husband worked as a union pipe insulator. Asbestos was heavily used for pipe insulation, due to its cheap cost to manufacture and natural ability to resist heat. Her late husband filed a lawsuit against Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1986.
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