The correlation between prolonged asbestos exposure and a series of different types of lung diseases has been demonstrated by multiple studies within the past four decades. Asbestos claims are currently increasing in the U.S. due to the increasing number of industrial workers and veterans diagnosed with pulmonary asbestos diseases.
Call 205.328.9200 Asbestos Screening
The use of asbestos in various industries was prevalent before the mid-1980s, although the dangers of asbestos were carefully covered up by many companies that were manufacturing or using asbestos products. Between the 1920s and the 1980s, people who worked in an industrial workplace, construction, maintenance, heavy industry, and military veterans were in contact with high concentrations of asbestos.
Years later many of these victims have developed serious, often fatal diseases, along with their family members who also got sick, from the asbestos fibers that their spouses were bringing home on their clothes and hair, giving way to secondary asbestos exposure.
If you suffered long-term exposure to asbestos while serving you may file claims for financial compensation with both asbestos trust funds and the VA. Oftentimes, veterans who were victims of asbestos exposure refuse to seek financial compensation during their lifetime or they tragically pass away before finding out whether their asbestos claim was approved. In such circumstances, family members can step in and can either file a claim with asbestos trust funds to recover compensation on behalf of their loved one or, if the injured person had already filed a claim before death, they can step in so as to bring the process to fruition. Regardless of your situation, a lawyer specializing in asbestos litigation will efficiently help you pursue financial compensation.
Environmental Litigation Group works on a 40% contingency fee basis, meaning that you do not have to pay us upfront. You only owe us if we obtain compensation on your behalf. Eligibility checks and asbestos screenings are at no cost to you or your family. In order for us to file an asbestos trust fund claim, you must meet the following requirements:
Even if you have not yet developed an asbestos-related condition, your risk is high as a former industrial worker or a veteran. We can file an asbestos claim with the trust funds after an accurate diagnosis and you can then obtain compensation. In addition to the asbestos trust fund claim, we help veterans obtain an approved VA claim as well through our process.
If you developed one of the following diseases as a result of occupational exposure, you are eligible for compensation. You will not need to come to our law firm, as the entire legal process will unfold over the phone and via e-mail. Furthermore, if you are too ill, a family member can help you with the legal process. In the unfortunate event that you pass away before recovering compensation, your surviving family members will receive compensation on your behalf.
Lung Cancer Mesothelioma Throat Cancer Esophageal Cancer Bronchial Cancer Gastrointestinal Cancer Colorectal CancerIf, however, you struggle with one of the following diseases as a consequence of occupational asbestos exposure, you will have to travel to Birmingham, Alabama so that you can undergo asbestos screening, which entails our medical experts examining your most recent chest X-ray, as well as blood and breathing tests to assign you a correct diagnosis, as the rate of misdiagnosis is very high among the victims of asbestos exposure.
AsbestosisPulmonary FibrosisPleural PlaquesPleural EffusionDiffuse Pleural ThickeningCOPDEmphysemaChronic BronchitisPleurisyLung NodulesLung SpotsAsthmaTuberculosisPneumonitisHistoplasmosisRounded AtelectasisLung Scarring Bladder CancerThe majority of people who are now struggling with a cancerous or asbestos disease have been exposed to high levels of asbestos in the workplace. However, their families were not safe either, as most companies did not require employees to change their clothes after the work shift ended. Thus, significant amounts of toxic asbestos fibers would be carried home, where family members unknowingly inhaled them. Secondary exposure accounts for approximately 8% of all diagnosed asbestos-related cancer cases annually.
A recently amended California law now allows the estates of deceased plaintiffs, including mesothelioma patients, to collect pain and suffering damages. Before this major change, only the person who sustained bodily injury as a result of asbestos exposure could recover pain and suffering damages. These are often the largest sums of money awarded as damages in mesothelioma lawsuits. This law became effective on January 1, 2022.
In 2020, a drywall worker diagnosed with mesothelioma received a $13.4 million verdict and $75,000 in settlements from a lawsuit filed in Washington state. Drywaller Raymond Budd said he developed the disease from working with multiple asbestos products, including Kaiser Gypsum's asbestos-containing joint compound.
According to a 2021 report, over 3,600 mesothelioma lawsuits were filed in America in 2020.
In 2018, a San Francisco jury awarded $24.26 million to former longshoreman George Lucas, who claimed he developed mesothelioma as a consequence of the occupational asbestos exposure that occurred while he was working at shipyards around San Francisco Bay for nearly 30 years. The man was exposed to asbestos insulation, gaskets, and packing.
In 2017, a jury awarded Ed Robaey a whopping $75 million in the largest single asbestos verdict in New York history. The plaintiff claimed he developed mesothelioma from working with asbestos gaskets in car engines.
A jury awarded former naval shipyard worker George Parker $6.5 million in 2016. The jury established that John Crane Inc. was responsible for exposing the plaintiff to asbestos, which led to his mesothelioma diagnosis. Parker worked with gasket materials containing asbestos at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
In 2014, a California jury awarded $70.8 million to Robert Whalen, a U.S. Navy machinist, in a mesothelioma lawsuit involving the gasket manufacturer John Crane Inc. The plaintiff claimed he developed mesothelioma from working with the company's asbestos products during his 26-year service in the Navy.
A New York jury ordered DaimlerChrysler to pay $25 million to Alfred D'Ulisse in 2006, a retired police officer who was also a former brake specialist. He claimed he developed mesothelioma from asbestos exposure stemming from the company's automobile brakes.
In 2003, U.S. Steel was ordered to pay $250 million to the wife of a former steelworker whose cause of death was mesothelioma. However, the company reached a post-verdict settlement for an undisclosed sum of money that is believed to be considerably less than the trial award.
Because increasingly more scientific and medical evidence supporting the fact that asbestos exposure can be deadly was coming to light, major asbestos companies had no other choice but to create trust funds after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was after they paid injured workers and their family members millions of dollars in settlements, as a tremendous number of former employees came to struggle with life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a very rare and aggressive cancer that occurs on the outer lining of the lungs.
The average award in a lawsuit involving asbestos exposure was:
As for asbestos trust funds, there are roughly 60 throughout the United States, with a total of $30 billion for people who are going to develop diseases related to occupational asbestos exposure in the future. It is important to note that each asbestos trust fund offers the injured person a percentage of the entire sum of money they are eligible for, depending on the severity of their disease, how many claims the trust has to pay, and the funds the trust currently has.
In 1968, the British Medical Journal claimed asbestos was the direct cause of most mesothelioma cases. There was still controversy as to what types of asbestos were the most carcinogenic, which is a debate that is still ongoing today. Between 2% and 10% of people who are heavily exposed to asbestos will develop mesothelioma.
On December 10, 1966, the first asbestos product lawsuit was filed in Beaumont, Texas, by attorney Ward Stephenson. His client, Claude Tomplait, had been diagnosed with asbestosis in July of the same year. The defendants were 11 manufacturers of asbestos-containing insulation, including Johns Manville, Fibreboard, and Owens Corning. The lawsuit went to trial on May 12, 1969, and a week later, the verdict was returned in favor of the defendants.
American physician Dr. Irving J. Selikoff presented his discoveries at the 1964 Biological Effects of Asbestos conference, sponsored by the New York Academy of Science. For over a year, the medical professional had examined more than 1,000 workers from the Union Asbestos & Rubber Company plant in Patterson, New Jersey.
He found the mortality rate among these employees to be 25% higher than statistically expected. The workers would die from a variety of diseases, such as asbestosis and lung cancer, but also stomach and colorectal cancer.
Since the 1920s, more and more industries in America, such as construction, power generating, electrical, and oil refining, began using asbestos as a raw material. This was because the mineral had numerous convenient properties, including resistance to extreme temperatures, durability, and inability to conduct electricity, and because it was quite cheap to purchase.
However, the companies using asbestos, such as Johns Manville and Raybestos, had been aware since the very beginning that exposure to asbestos fibers by inhalation or ingestion can result in terrible diseases such as lung cancer. Yet, they did not provide their workers with any protective equipment and went above and beyond to keep this information hidden from everyone.
The following are only some of the most outrageous excerpts that came to light after the 1980s when asbestos manufacturers could no longer hide the carcinogenic nature of asbestos:
In 1899, Dr. H. Montague Murray began studying the negative health effects of asbestos exposure. His first study was conducted at the Charing Cross Hospital, London, in 1900. During it, a postmortem investigation revealed asbestos traces in the lungs of a young man whose cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis. He had been working for 14 years in a textile mill that used asbestos.
Although asbestos claims are unique to the person and situation, our specialists will devote the time and attention it takes to resolve your particular case. We have handled 233,565 cases that have taken us all over the country and recovered 1.4 billion for our clients. We have a team of medical research experts, industrial hygienists, environmentalists, attorneys and staff that have worked solely on asbestos cases for over two decades.
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