Mesothelioma Lawyers Blog

August 4, 2012

New Mesothelioma Research Center Brings Hope

Our Boston mesothelioma attorneys know that there are few causes of more critical importance today than finding a cure for this disease.

That’s because the clock is ticking for those who suffer from it.

Caused by exposure to airborne particles of asbestos fibers and typically affecting the lining of the lungs, the disease remains latent for decades, but only 10 percent of mesothelioma patients survive past the five-year mark.

So it’s encouraging to hear about a new research center that has opened in England. Even though it’s not located stateside, breakthroughs that occur there can benefit mesothelioma sufferers across the globe.

Papworth Hospital, which is in Cambridgeshire, about an hour north of London, has announced its new research center, called the “Mesobank.” This facility will conduct live tissue sampling as well initiate data research.

While mesothelioma remains a serious problem here in the U.S., the U.K. now holds the unfortunate title of having the highest mortality rate for mesothelioma in the world. There, about 2,300 die every year – more than are claimed by thyroid cancer, testicular cancer, skin cancer or cervical cancer.

However, Britain’s population is much smaller than in the U.S. Here, an estimated 10,000 people die annually from the disease. The Environmental Working Group estimates that more Americans die from asbestos exposure each year than do of skin cancer or even firearm-related deaths.

Part of the reason has to do with how pervasive asbestos was in a wide range of products over many, many years. Primarily, these included pipes, insulation, shipping materials and auto parts, but it wasn’t limited to those areas. That’s part of what sometimes makes it difficult for mesothelioma lawyers to pinpoint the exact source of exposure. In a lot of cases, multiple defendants will be taken to court, as most cases involve multiple sources of exposure.

The average life expectancy once someone diagnosed with mesothelioma is 18 months.

During its latency period, a person may have no symptoms whatsoever. It’s worth noting that the highest rates of longer survival involve those individuals who catch it early.

The top two early warning signs are shortness of breath and a heavy feeling in the chest. Other possible symptoms of pleural mesothelioma (in the lungs) include:

1. Back or side pain;
2. Trouble swallowing;
3. Fatigue;
4. Cough;
5. Weight loss.

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma (in the abdomen) include:

1. Abdominal pain;
2. Back pain;
3. Anemia;
4. Nausea and vomiting;
5. Constipation.

The hope of the Mesobank is ultimately to find a cure for this disease, though in the immediate realm, researchers are hoping to extend that life expectancy.

Dr. Robert Rintoul, the consultant physician at the hospital, said this is form of cancer for which research has been sorely neglected. We concur and will be closely watching the research developments as they unfold.
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August 1, 2012

Boston Universities Incur Major Fines for Asbestos Violations

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Two Boston higher education providers, as well as a construction company, have drawn the ire of state environmental officials for violating state statutes governing asbestos exposure.

Reports are that Emerson College, Boston University and Suffolk Construction Co. Inc. will have to fork over some $530,000 for violations.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers are encouraged that state officials are holding these entities accountable, yet concerned about the potential exposure of college students at these facilities. Exposure to asbestos leads to mesothelioma, though it’s not diagnosed for many until decades after that exposure. Once a person is diagnosed, the disease usually overcomes them in a matter of months or a few years.

The first incident happened last year, when Boston University’s trustees were slapped with a $75,000 fine after spring 2010 renovations to a residence hall, medical building and student union. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection said that the university did not submit demolition notifications, and as a result, asbestos-containing materials were removed without enough protections in place. Even when workers apparently discovered the asbestos and began to remove it, they did not properly notify the state DEP.

Despite the hefty fine, the DEP agreed to suspend half of it if the school reported no other asbestos violations in the next 12 months.

They didn’t even last a month.

The DEP later reported that a contractor hired by the school to demolish and renovate two location son campus reportedly removed asbestos material from the school prior to the school filing the proper paperwork with the state.

As a result, the DEP recently announced the school would after all be responsible for the suspended penalties from last year.

Subsequently, Emerson College and its contractor, Suffolk Construction Co. Inc, will be responsible for $250,000 each – or $500,000 total – for its asbestos violations at an old Colonial property the college had purchased, intending to convert it to student housing.

This would have been fine, except that a consultant who was hired to determine whether the building had asbestos determined that all areas of the structure were not accessible, and therefore further testing was necessary as soon as access was enabled.

However, rather than following through with this advise, university officials and the construction company reportedly decided to simply move ahead with the project anyway.

And in fact, there was asbestos present in the building. DEP officials found asbestos-containing materials throughout the entire building, including in a type of wall insulation called Mac-ite. This material was not only missed during the initial assessment, it had been heavily damaged during the renovations, meaning the asbestos was likely released into the air, which is how it is the most dangerous.

The result was that workers, tenants and the public in general was put at risk.

The DEP, in turn, has given both the college and the construction company a $250,000 fine.
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July 28, 2012

Massachusetts Asbestos Violation Results in Guilty Plea, Jail Time

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The owners of a Lynnfield asbestos removal company have pleaded guilty to a number of Massachusetts Clean Air Act and Solid Waste Act violations, as well as evasion of unemployment insurance and filing false statements with the Environmental Department of Protection.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers understand that even given all that, only one will serve 30 days in jail, followed by three years of probation, while the other will serve only the three years of probation, without the jail time.

During the course of their probation, they will not be allowed to work in the business of environmental remediation. In other words, they won’t be in charge of asbestos clean-up anytime soon. We hope they’ll find another permanent occupation.

Still, it seems a light sentence for a pair that put so many people at risk, though we realize that enforcing the act at all is a good step, given the fact that so many violators have apparently gotten off scot-free.

This case began to come to light back in September 2010. That’s when the Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force (overseen by the state attorney general and the state DEP) were tipped off that owners of AEI Environmental were reportedly illegally storing garbage bags of asbestos at a local self-storage facility. Investigators looking into the complaint found hundreds of bags of asbestos stuffed into a storage unit at the facility – all of it from work that the company had performed.

Apparently, the company had used the storage facility to essentially dump asbestos they had removed from properties in Marblehead, Beverly and Lynn, including schools and other public buildings.

Additionally, they did not notify the DEP that they would be doing the removal work or that they were storing the fatal compound at the site.

As you are probably aware, asbestos is the primary source of mesothelioma cancer, which is terminal. However, area residents may not know for decades whether they have been exposed to the material, as the disease lays dormant for decades.

Because it’s so deadly, particularly when its airborne, asbestos has to be removed according to very strict parameters. Those include the requirement that the removal contractor be licensed and that the company notify the DEP when removal is taking place. In this case, the two were convicted of not being licensed and of convincing other contracting companies to file the notice – indicating that they would be the responsible party.

Of course, this last piece seems to indicate major problems with the entire asbestos abatement system.

The fact that the owners of this company were also found in violation of labor laws by failing to have unemployment insurance for its workers is no surprise: They didn’t appear to keep anyone else’s welfare in mind except their own.
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July 23, 2012

Entire Town Plagued With Asbestos Exposure

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Boston mesothelioma lawyers know that the dollar cost of asbestos abatement in this country has been enormous.

But it’s a task that one mining city in Montana felt it couldn’t afford not to do.

The Associated Press reports that in Libby, which for his has been grappling with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by exposure to airborne asbestos.

The rates of illness for this small town are startling. With a population of 3,000, an estimated 1,700 have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. That’s a rate of roughly 57 percent. That also doesn’t include those who have died, which is estimated to be around 400, or about 13 percent of the population.

Fatal asbestos dust from the local mining company, WR. Grace and Co. reportedly covered the town at one point. The company reportedly closed the mine about 20 years ago, but in the years since, there has been a flood of mesothelioma diagnoses.

Twelve years ago, the city embarked on a massive clean-up effort. It’s still not done, even after spending nearly $450 million from the federal government. That’s only the first phase, with federal regulators from the Department of Environmental Protection saying that some of that asbestos remains at that site.

Still, a city park where the plant once stood recently hosted a wedding and there are blues festivals scheduled throughout August.

The removal work will have to continue.

For 30 years, the site of the Grace plant reportedly stockpiled vermiculite from the nearby mine before it was shuttled by rail for use across the country in attic insulation. Vermiculite, by the way, is a natural mineral that sometimes contains asbestos. The vermiculite that came out of this particular mine did contain the deadly fibers.

In addition to insulation, vermiculite has been used for brake linings, moulded shapes, fireproofing, roofing and even pillows.

In Libby, the town’s baseball and football fields were located right next to the Grace plant. The people who today are wrestling with the fatal disease talk about how they used to play in the piles of raw vermiculite when they were just children.

The epidemic is so bad there that the town is under the first of its kind public health emergency declaration, which was issued in 2009 by the EPA. The deaths are likely to continue for a number of decades.

Almost 1 million cubic yards of contaminated material and soil have been so far removed from the town. The next phase of removal is expected to be completed sometime over the next five years.

The fact is, there is no safe level of exposure, and residents understand that even those homes that have been cleaned once will likely have to be cleaned again, as there are still traces of the fibers.

Some have lobbed major criticism of the process, saying some clean-up officials seem to just be throwing money at the issue, without an idea of the real scope. Others have wondered if the town should simply be abandoned altogether.

Traces of the material have been found a number of times even when conducting seemingly mundane projects, such as installing a communication line through a park or renovating home projects.

In fact, there are still six major targets pending for contamination clean-up, and those include: the actual mine, the residential homes, commercial buildings and public properties, a rail line, a mill site, a neighboring town that has seen similar issues and the area’s state highways.

All of this would suggest that even for the celebrations, the clean-up is far from over.
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July 19, 2012

Mesothelioma Advocate Succumbs to Illness

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

An advocate battling for a cure to mesothelioma has died – though his cause has not.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers were saddened to hear of the passing of Larry Davis, a Florida runner who raised tens of thousands of dollars for mesothelioma research, and always ended his e-mails with the phrase, “Believe in a Cure – believe in yourself.”

Sadly, this disease is not discriminatory. Given that its root cause is airborne exposure to asbestos, which used to be contained in thousands of everyday products in regular use by average Americans, its reach appears to know almost no bounds. It’s estimated that about 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma every single year.

Although research is ongoing, a diagnosis is currently akin to a death sentence. It becomes not if, but rather when.

If the companies that produced these products – which ranged from shipbuilding material to insulation, automobile parts and textiles – didn’t know the damage that was being caused, this would be a terrible tragedy.

The fact of the matter is, though, that most of these manufacturers were aware of the danger in which they were placing their workers and consumers, and yet they allowed greed to fuel their continued production anyway – and that’s an outrage.

While the disease has claimed a number of famous individuals (Steve McQueen, Warren Zevon and Merlin Olsen, among them), Larry Davis was not famous in the traditional sense of the word. But he did make quite a name for himself, particularly in his last years as he fought tirelessly for a cure.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, Davis was 61-years-old when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Doctors at the time gave him six months to live.

That was six years ago.

Given the aggressive nature of this disease, it’s practically miraculous he survived as long as he did.

In the years following his diagnosis, he raised close to $80,000 during his 8K races in Boca Raton, called Miles for Meso. Additionally, he competed in races and even triathlon throughout the country, at each one making it a point to raise awareness about the disease and the fight for a cure.

He competed in one triathlon prior to his fifth abdominal surgery since his diagnosis. His wife was an eight-time finisher of the Boston Marathon, and he traveled here with her in April to watch her compete one last time.

Davis was one who beat most odds. Most patients live about 18 months after they’re diagnosed. Those who are Davis’ age have only a seven percent chance of living another five years.

What’s more, Davis’ father had died of mesothelioma as well.

A scholarship has been established in his name through the Runner’s Edge Foundation, which will be awarded on a yearly basis to a high school senior devoted to community.

While the cure was not found in his lifetime, we could all be served by following in his tracks.
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July 18, 2012

Late Actor Steve McQueen’s Widow to Testify Before Congress About Asbestos Dangers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The widow of the late actor Steve McQueen, who died of mesothelioma, is slated to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives, urging lawmakers to formally ban the import of asbestos into the United States.

Boston mesothelioma attorneys know it’s a widely-held misconception that asbestos is illegal in the U.S. The fact of the matter is, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had issued regulations that would have completely phased out the use of asbestos in all products made here. However, the asbestos industry opposed those regulations and won in a court challenge in 1991.

So while it’s certainly no longer widely-used, it’s not illegal.

This is an extremely important issue to address, given that currently, the only prognosis for someone diagnosed with mesothelioma (caused by airborne asbestos exposure) is death – and usually a very swift one.

Because of the extended latency of the disease, those who were exposed decades ago – when asbestos was commonly used in a wide array of products – are only just now learning of their diagnosis.

While many U.S. manufacturers and builders today do tend to shy away from the use of asbestos in their materials, given the tidal wave of legal action that has ensued, they’re still not legally forbidden from using it.

And therein lies the problem that Barbara Minty McQueen hopes to address in her July 24th testimony on Capitol Hill, which will be on behalf of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

Steve McQueen, who was dubbed, “The King of Cool,” died at age 50 in November of 1980 after receiving his diagnosis of mesothelioma less than a year earlier. He passed away on an operating table in Mexico, where he had sought a number of unconventional treatments for his mesothelioma after doctors in the U.S. told him there was nothing more they could do.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1947 to 1950. Although Minty McQueen says he was very proud of his service, it was during this time, he believed, that he was exposed to asbestos. He reportedly removed asbestos-filled insulation from large pipes in the ship’s hold while he worked in the Navy Yard of Washington, D.C.

There is also the possibility, he believed, that he could have contracted mesothelioma from the asbestos contained on sets and soundstages in Hollywood and New York, or even possibly in the racing suits and helmets he wore as an avid motorcycle racer.

The fact that there were so many products he came in contact with that could have caused his mesothelioma is a testimony to just how pervasive the problem is.

His widow will be speaking at a staff briefing entitled, “Asbestos: Environmental and Occupational Exposure Continues.” She recently penned a book about her husband’s last days, entitled, “The Last Mile…Revisited.”

Her efforts to urge legislators to formally ban asbestos in the U.S. is a noble one, and we support her in it.
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July 15, 2012

Illegal Massachusetts Asbestos Storage Leads to Criminal Charges

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A Massachusetts asbestos case has been gaining attention, as a business owner accused of illegally – and dangerously – storing the deadly compound seeks to have her statements stricken from court.

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers believe the truth should come out. If this woman and her company were jeopardizing public safety to save a few bucks, they should absolutely be held accountable.

According to the Salem News, the 52-year-old ran an asbestos abatement company. This is a company that builders, contractors, homeowners and property mangers might call to come in and properly remove asbestos from old structures. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has specific guidelines under Massachusetts 310 CMR 4.00. This is the code that stipulates the required notification and work practices for asbestos handling, removal, storage and disposal in order to minimize or avoid releasing fibers into the air, and thereby causing a hazard to workers and the public at-large.

In this case, investigators learned that this particular asbestos abatement company (which we won’t name here, because as of yet, they haven’t been convicted) wasn’t properly storing the asbestos it was hired to remove from schools, hotels and libraries. Rather than following state regulations regarding disposal, officials with the DEP say the business was instead storing asbestos in bags in a self-storage unit.

And we’re not talking a few bags. We’re talking hundreds of trash bags, packed into two self-storage containers.

One official was quoted as saying that the business owners knew that they weren’t properly disposing of the asbestos, but chose to illegally stash it anyway because they couldn’t afford to do it the right way.

When the 52-year-old business owner arrived at the storage locker, in the midst of a search being carried out by state environmental officials, she reportedly began going on about how customers weren’t paying, there had been a lapse in asbestos removal certificates and that a number of contracts had dropped her services.

It’s those statements that are at the heart of the issue before a court right now. The business owner and her attorney are imploring a judge to suppress those statements from the trial because she was reportedly upset that investigators were going through her property. Apparently, some of the items in that storage unit belonged to her late mother. They were alongside the asbestos.

Her lawyer has argued the emotional distress of that ordeal prevented her from making a rational decision.

Additionally, her lawyers argue she should have been read her Miranda rights. While she was not immediately under arrest for the asbestos violation, she was reportedly not free to go because she had an active warrant out for her arrest for prior driving offenses.

Prosecutors, however, argued that she in fact was free to leave – just not in her vehicle, as she had a suspended driver’s license. Plus, they contended it was more likely she was upset that investigators were looking into her illegal asbestos storage rather than them looking through her mother’s belongings. If they were so important, the state argued, why would they be stuffed alongside the deadly compound?

There is no indication from the media reports thus far that anyone suffered a dangerous exposure to the asbestos. Of course, it may be years before anyone truly knows, as the latency period for mesothelioma cancer is typically decades.

The bottom line is that when you don’t follow the removal guidelines, there is the potential for someone to become exposed and become ill.

The judge has yet to make his ruling. The trial is slated to take place sometime in the next few months.
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July 10, 2012

$48M Mesothelioma Verdict Won Against Numerous Companies in CA Case

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers are encouraged anytime we hear about sizable verdicts in mesothelioma cases – not just here in Massachusetts, but all over the country.

In a sense, even though we work for different law firms, we view other mesothelioma attorneys as fighting the same fight – not only to win compensation for mesothelioma sufferers and their families, but to hold accountable those companies who for years turned a blind eye to the grave risk they perpetuated against their employees and the public at large.

(That said, not all mesothelioma attorneys are the same – do your research and don’t commit until you’ve found a firm with a record of success!)

In this case, we were pleased to learn about a case out of Southern California, in which a retired cement contractor/construction superintendent and his wife were awarded nearly $50 million by jurors following a six-week trial.

Media reports indicate that the 86-year-old, who also served as a former local city councilman, was given $30 million in compensatory damages and another $18 million in punitive damages. Compensatory damages are monies that the jury believes will compensate the victim for his or her injuries. Punitive damages are enacted for the purpose of punishing the defendant.

This verdict is reported to be the largest of its kind in the country this year.

The lawsuit, which was filed last year, had alleged negligence against a number of companies, including Union Carbide, Riverside Cement and California Portland Cement Co.

According to court documents, the plaintiff had worked as a construction superintendent and cement contractor between 1947 and 1980 at a number of locations in the Southern California, Los Angeles-area.

Part of that work meant that he was involved in building hundreds of commercial buildings and residential structures and even a few churches. In doing all of this work, he claimed that he was using asbestos-containing products, manufactured by the above-mentioned companies. Additionally, he was involved in remodeling a number of those structures, and was using those same products in the course of those projects as well.

Although he hadn’t been doing that type of work since the early 1980s, he only last July learned that he is suffering from mesothelioma, due to the exposure to asbestos.

His wife was also named in the suit, alleging loss of consortium, or companionship.

The couple’s attorney said the not only were the named companies responsible for selling dangerous products, but they spent millions of dollars trying to hide the fact that they were dangerous.

One of the companies, Union Carbide, reportedly put numerous “expert” witnesses on the stand, claiming that their brand of asbestos was not cancer-causing. However, there was documentation and internal memos that suggested the company’s staff doctors chastised those in the marketing departments for telling customers that their asbestos wasn’t dangerous, when in fact it was.
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July 5, 2012

Credibility of Asbestos Study Questioned

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A 40-year study that downplays the health effects of asbestos exposure for miners and mill workers has drawn the ire of several mesothelioma advocacy groups.

Our Boston mesothelioma attorneys know that a hallmark of solid science is objectivity. This particular study, conducted by Dr. John Corbett McDonald of the McGill University’s School of Occupational Health, based in Canada, has been criticized for lacking transparency and for being biased toward the industry.

It is a fact that the Chrysolite Institute, which is a lobbying group established to promote the use of asbestos in overseas products, uses the 40-year McGill study to bolster its claims of asbestos safety.

But why would a reputable scientist risk that reputation in order to show the asbestos industry in a favorable light?

According to an investigation by CBC News, it all boils down to money.

Back in the 1960s, the dangers of asbestos were becoming more widely known and understood. The industry, however, didn’t want to risk government regulation. That would have meant huge profit losses and lawsuits (which later ended up happening anyway, but they were trying to avoid it at the time).

So it took its cues from the tobacco industry, with the overarching view that industry is always best suited to look after its own issues. (Of course, as we now see clearly, that’s not true when it comes to preserving public health; industry is out for industry.)

Just look at the tobacco industry. There were in fact many scientists on big tobacco’s payroll who attested to the fact that cigarettes were simply a healthy stress-reliever – an account we now see as so blatantly false as to be laughable, if the consequences of those lies weren’t so devastating.

But in this vein, it hired a scientist to begin research on the issue.

Who did they hire?

According to CBC, it was none other than Dr John Corbett McDonald of McGill.

The news station produced documents showing that McDonald and other researchers at the school accepted checks form the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association between 1966 to 1972, for amounts that today would translate into several million dollars.

The results of the McGill study seem to indicate it was exposure to another chemical, tremolite, that caused mesothelioma more frequently than did the asbestos.

McGill researchers reportedly refused to give the raw data to CBC reporters, but said it would be conducting an internal investigation regarding the integrity of the results. That investigation is ongoing.

Now, without seeing the raw results of this study ourselves, it’s hard to make a conclusion one way or the other about whether the study was flawed. However, there is a great appearance of impropriety, whether or not the research itself remained untainted.

What we do know is this: The World Health Organization has concluded that all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis, and further that there is absolutely no safe level of exposure.

While the substance has been widely shunned by U.S. manufacturers since the 1970s, people continue to learn they have been sickened by mesothelioma, as the disease has an extremely long latency period. People who have been exposed to the airborne asbestos toxins don’t learn until decades later that they are ill.
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July 1, 2012

$173 Million Asbestos Repairs Completed in the Capitol

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Our Boston mesothelioma lawyers realize that asbestos litigation is a commitment.

It’s rarely a swift process, despite the fact that the courts do realize that those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma are working with borrowed time.

But for those who struggle with lung cancer, asbestosis or mesothelioma, it’s not always about the money. It’s about justice and holding agencies accountable for negligence.

Such was the case with 10 Architect of the Capitol employees, federal government workers charged with the construction and preservation of our nation’s iconic monuments. These are structures such as the U.S. Capitol Building, the Senate Office Buildings, the House Office Buildings, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Capitol Visitor Center, the Library of Congress, the Capitol Grounds and the U.S. Botanic Garden.

These workers alleged that back in 2000, health and safety hazards were first discovered in the miles-long underground utility system that runs beneath Capitol Hill. These are the underground pipes and tunnels that are used to provide steam and chilled water to the federal facilities.

Some of those hazards included excessive heat, falling concrete – and asbestos.

Lab tests indeed determined that certain AOC workers were exposed to “extremely high” levels of asbestos.

There was even testimony on Capitol Hill that Congress hadn’t done enough to protect workers.

The workers who blew the whistle on those dangers suffered harassment and retaliation for speaking out. They later received an undisclosed settlement.

That agreement, between the federal Office of Compliance (OOC) and the AOC, stipulated that repairs to the tunnels would be completed within the next five years – with full abatement completed by June of 2012.

Congressional officials several times lamented that there wasn’t enough money to complete all of the work. Of course, if the alternative meant Congressional members would have to suffer no steam or chilled water to their facilities, certainly, they might have been persuaded to fix the problems sooner.

And in fact, the AOC did spend $173 million million to cover the repairs, and declared its obligation had been satisfied. Both agencies applauded one another for the completion of the work.

But the fact of the matter is, it took years for the agency to step up and take action, even after they knew the dangers to which they were exposing their workers.

A former supervisor at the AOC who now suffers lung diseases as a result of his exposure to asbestos, said it angers him to hear the agencies pat one another on the back.

The announcement, he says, is nothing but paperwork. His illness is something he lives with each day.

“After 15 years of ignoring health issues,” he told a Roll Call reporter, “You don’t settle with anybody.”
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