Posts Tagged ‘ Asbestos Mesothelioma ’
Asbestos News Roundup: 8.12.11
August 12th, 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
Charleston, WV: Charles W. Davis Jr., is suing 79 companies alleging that they are responsible for his father’s lung cancer and resulting death in July 2009.
On July 24, 2009, Charles W. Davis Sr., was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 24, 2009 and died just four days later, according to the lawsuit.
Charles W. Davis Jr., alleges that the defendant companies exposed his father to asbestos and asbestos-containing products which resulted in his developing lung cancer. Davis Sr., worked at Allied Chemical as an operator and foreman for 34 years, from 1945 to 1979, and it was during this time that he was exposed to asbestos-containing products and fibers.
The 79 defendants are being sued upon theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.
The 79 defendants named in the suit are: 3M Company; A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Allied Chemical Corporation; AmChem Products; Armstrong International; Ashland, Inc.; Aurora Pump Company; BW IP, Inc.; Catalytic Construction Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Flowserve Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; Gardner Denver, Inc.; General Electric Company; General Refractories Company; Gordon Gasket & Packing Co.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Company; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International f/k/a Allied Signal, Inc.; Honeywell International, Inc.; Honeywell International, Inc. as successor-in-interest to Semet Solvay; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; Invensys Systems, Inc.; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories; McJunkin Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Nagle Pumps; National Service Industries Venture, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Ohio Valley Insulating Company; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Rhone-Poulenc, Inc.; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Roper Pump Company; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; Spirax Sarco, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems, LLC; Sundyne Corporation; SVI Corporation; Swindell Dressier International Company; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; The William Powell Company; Tyco Flow Controls Inc.; Union Boiler Company; Union Carbide Chemical and Plastics Company, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Viking Pump, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Warren Pump; West Virginia Electric Supply Company; Yarway Corporation; Zenith Pumps; and Zurn Industries, LLC.
Asbestos Law
Buffalo, NY: Two companies and nine people have been indicted by a federal grand jury for violations of the Clean Air Act that took place during the alleged asbestos removal project at the vacant Kensington towers housing project. Three of the nine people indicted were government inspectors during the time the violations took place.
A press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for Western New York states ” The U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a 23-count Indictment charging two companies and nine individuals with various federal felony charges relating to the asbestos abatement project conducted at the Kensington Towers apartment complex, 1827 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, New York. The companies charged with criminal violations are identified as Johnson Contracting of WNY, Inc. (Johnson Contracting) and JMD Environmental, Inc. (JMD). The individual defendants include Ernest Johnson, 39, and Rai Johnson, 32, both from Buffalo, NY and the President and Supervisor of Johnson Contracting (respectively); Evan Harnden, 42, a supervisor of JMD and Brian Scott, 31, JMD project monitor, both from North Tonawanda; and Henry Hawkins, 41, of Buffalo, NY and Chris Coseglia, 25, of Niagara Falls, NY; also project monitors of JMD.”
Reportedly, the 23 indictments allege the defendants conspired to violate the Clean Air Act and to defraud the United States by (among other things) by failing to conduct proper air sampling, and by creating false visual inspection reports certifying that all asbestos had been removed from the buildings. The companies and individual defendants are also charged with violations of the Clean Air Act based on their roles as project monitors during the final visual inspection process at the buildings and making and using false documents during the course of the asbestos abatement activities including generating false inspection reports stating that all asbestos had been removed from the six towers, when they knew that in fact some asbestos remained on site. (WGRZ.com)
Asbestos News Roundup: 8.5.11
August 5th, 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
Charleston, WV: The widow of Thomas F. Turek Sr., who was diagnosed with lung cancer and on May 3, 2010, he subsequently died due to his lung cancer on June 17, 2010, has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 60 companies as defendants. Carol Sue Turek claims the companies are responsible for her husband’s death and is alleging negligence; contaminated buildings; breach of expressed/implied warranty; strict liability; intentional tort; conspiracy; misrepresentations; and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Mr Turek Sr. was employed by the defendants from 1965 until 1986 and was exposed to asbestos during the employment. The lawsuit also states that he had previously smoked cigarettes from 1960 until 2000, but then quit. Mrs. Turek claims the defendants failed to keep her husband protected from the asbestos he was exposed to through the course of his work.
The 60 companies named as the defendants in the lawsuit are: A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Allegheny Energy Service Corporation; Beazer East, Inc.; Caterpillar, Inc.; Certainteed Corporation; Clark Equipment Company; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Erie City Iron Works; FB Wright Company; Flowserve FSD Corporation; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; George V. Hamilton, Inc.; Goulds Pumps; Honeywell international, Inc.; I.U. North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Inductotherm Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories, Inc.; Joy Technologies, Inc.; McJunkin Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Monongahela Power Company; NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc.; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Ownes-Illinois, Inc.; P&H Mining Equipment, Inc.; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Sunbeam Corporation; Surface Combustion, Inc.; Swindell-Dressier International Corporation; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; the Gage Company; the Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Co.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Yale Materials Handling Corporation; and Zurn Industries, Inc. (wvrecord.com) 
Charleston, WV: The daughter of Frederick Lee Dotson, who died from lung cancer two days following his diagnosis on July 8, 2009, is suing 81 companies in her asbestos lawsuit, claiming they are responsible for her father’s lung cancer and death.
In her lawsuit Gina M. Pastors, Dotson’s daughter, alleges that while her father was employed by the defendants as a laborer, from 1955 until 1977, he was exposed to asbestos. The defendants are being sued upon theories of negligence; contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.
The 81 defendants named in the lawsuit are: A.O. Smith Corporation; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Allied Glove Corporation; Aurora Pump Company; Baltimore Aircoil Company; Beazer East, Inc.; Bechtel Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; BW IP, Inc.; Catalytic Construction Company; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Consolidated Aluminum Corporation; Crane Co.; Crown Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; EI DuPont de Nemours & Co.; F.B. Wright Company; Flour Corporation; Flowserve FSD Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc.; Fluor Enterprises, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Fosceo, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; George V. Hamilton, Inc.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Company; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; IMO Industries, Inc.; Inductotherm Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories; Joy Technologies, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nagle Pumps; National Service Industries Venture, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company, and its division Ferro Engineering; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; P&H Mining Equipment, Inc.; Pneumo Abex Corp.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Reading Crane; Riley Power Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Roper Pump Company; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA) LLC; Sunbeam Corporation; Surface Combustion Industries, Inc.; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; The Alliance Machine Company; The Dow Chemical Company; The Manitowoc Company, Inc.; The William Powell Company; Thiem Corp.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical & Plastics Company; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; West Virginia State Electric Supply Company; WT/HRC Corporation/Whiting Corporation; Yarway Corporation; and Zurn Industries, LLC. (Wvrecord.com)
Asbestos Settlements
Beloit, WI: According to the City Manager for Beloit, a $270,000 settlement has been unanimously approved by the Common council, ending a lawsuit brought by a man who purchased a former Beloit public works facility from the city only to find that it contained asbestos.
According to a report on WTAQ, Dan Langone’s company bought the building in 1998, having been assured by the city that the building had been cleared of asbestos. But Langone said he found asbestos in the structure a decade later, so in 2009 he sued the city, claiming that city officials had not adequately addressed the problems with the building.
City manager Larry Arft said the Common Council unanimously approved a settlement of the lawsuit this week. (WTAQ.com)
Week Adjourned: 7.30.11
July 31st, 2011. By LucyC
Top Class Actions
Guaranteed Rate but Not Guaranteed Pay? That’s the story according to loan officers who worked for Guaranteed Rate Inc (GRI) and filed a wages and overtime class action lawsuit against the mortgage lender this week.
The lawsuit alleges that GRI violated the rights of loan officers under the California Labor Code. That’s not very nice. The lawsuit alleges that the mortgage lender unlawfully paid loan officers below minimum wage, failed to compensate them for overtime hours worked and unjustly deducted expenses from previously earned wages, in violation of state wage and hour laws.
The complaint also claims that Guaranteed Rate incorrectly and intentionally classified loan officers as “outside salespeople,” making them exempt from some minimum wage and overtime regulations. Oh, that old chestnut. Never dies, does it.
Predictably, these outside sales employees claim to have spent more than 50 percent of their working time in their homes, which the employees argue is considered the employer’s places of business for purposes of the outside sales exemption from minimum and overtime wage laws.
The Guaranteed Rate Loan Officer class action lawsuit further alleges that the mortgage lender intentionally misclassified the loan officers as outside salespeople in order to avoid overtime and minimum wage requirements in violation of California employment laws. Specifically, the complaint states, the sales plaintiff was paid a “percentage of the profit obtained from the sale of the loan” and as a result “there were pay periods during which the Plaintiff received less than minimum wage or no compensation.” This compensation structure caused the loan officers to often work more than 8 hours per day and/or 5 days per week, which was allegedly known by the the Mortgage Loan Company.
According to California overtime laws, employers are required to pay employees overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of eight hours in a single workday or forty hours in a workweek.
Top Settlements
Another Big Asbestos Settlement. A painter who was recently diagnosed with terminal asbestos mesothelioma caused by his exposure to asbestos-laiden products, was awarded $8.5 million in settlement of his asbestos lawsuit.
Bernard Steffen alleged that while working as a commercial painter and handyman he was exposed to products including stucco, molding and construction materials that contain asbestos. In his lawsuit he named as defendants the many manufacturers of the products, claiming that they knew of the dangers associated with their products yet failed to provide appropriate warnings.
The named defendants who went to court were cement maker CalPortland Co., molding material maker Cytec Engineered Materials and product supplier Union Carbide,all of whom denied the allegations. The jury found CalPortland and Union Carbide each 10 percent liable; remaining liability was divided amongst defendants who were no longer in the case at trial. Cytec was found not liable.
The storm around Katrina—will it ever end? Maybe. Preliminary approval of a $25 million settlement of a class action lawsuit against Tenet Healthcare Corp and subsidiaries has been granted by Orleans Parish Chief Judge Rosemary Ledet.
The lawsuit was filed following and as a result of Hurricane Katrina in which Tenet’s Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans was flooded, and dozens of people, patients and visitors, suffered as a result. A class of plaintiffs represents patients and family of patients who died in the hospital during the storm: 45 patients died during in the hospital during the storm, and doctors later admitted to having used euthanasia on patients, but no criminal charges were brought.
According to a report in the Louisana Record, the lawsuit states that approximately 187 patients and 800 visitors were in the hospital during and after the storm.
The lawsuit alleges that Tenet was liable for failing to adequately prepare the hospital for flooding before Katrina despite warnings from the hospital’s maintenance staff. The back-up power source in the hospital failed during the hurricane, as a result of flooding caused when the federally built levees broke, letting floodwater into the city. According to court documents, Tenet had argued that the dangerous environment at the hospital was a result of the failed levees and shoddy government response to the storm.
Tenet staff spent several days urgently seeking help from several federal agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard. The Tenet settlement releases Tenet and its partners from all liability.
OK. That’s it for this week. See you at the Bar.
Asbestos News Roundup: 7.28.11
July 28th, 2011. By LucyC
A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.
Asbestos Lawsuits
St. Clair County, IL: Marcie Armstrong has filed an asbestos lawsuit naming 16 defendant companies as being responsible for her developing lung cancer.
Armstrong, who lives in South Carolina, alleges that throughout her career as a laborer at Presto Manufacturing Company in Jackson, Mississippi, she was exposed to products that contained asbestos. And, she also claims she was exposed to asbestos fibers by way of her father, who worked as a laborer and molder at Presto from 1953 through the early 1980s.
Armstrong alleges that the defendants should have known of the harmful effects of asbestos, but failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for the plaintiff’s safety.
As a result of her asbestos-related diseases, Armstrong says she became disabled and disfigured, incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish. In addition, she claims she became prevented from pursuing her normal course of employment and, as a result, lost large sums of money that would have accrued to her. (madisonrecord.com)
Asbestos Settlements
Los Angeles, CA: A painter who was recently diagnosed with terminal asbestos mesothelioma caused by his exposure to asbestos-laiden products, has been awarded $8.5 million in settlement of his asbestos lawsuit.
Bernard Steffen alleged that while working as a commercial painter and handyman he was exposed to products including stucco, molding and construction materials that contain Read the rest of this entry »
Asbestos News Roundup: 7.22.11
July 22nd, 2011. By LucyC
A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.
Asbestos News
Asbestos, PQ: The infamous Canadian asbestos mine—the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec could be mothballed indefinitely as of November 13, if talks to keep the mine going don’t produce results soon.
The Jeffrey Mine is Canada’s only fully operational asbestos mine, and is in negotiations with LAB Chrysotile and the union representing the mine’s 350 employees to get the mine up and running again. The Harper government’s decision to allow funding for the mine comes despite international outrage and lobby from organizations including the Canadian Cancer Society. Further, Steven Harper’s government recently blocked a United Nations motion to have asbestos declared a carcinogen.
Simon Dupéré, president of LAB Chrysotile in Thetford Mines told the Montreal Gazette “A shutdown will be necessary on November 13 if we can’t come to an agreement, but both parties want to avoid that, and both parties are willing to collaborate very closely to avoid it.”
The Jeffrey Mine is an open pit asbestos mine and functions for only a few months each year because it’s nearly exhausted. Its owners are hoping to get a loan guarantee from the Quebec government in order to expand into an underground operation, but the government wants to see private financing in place by August 15, or the loan guarantee offer will expire. (Montreal Gazette)
Fort Branch, IN: The charred remains of a meat packing plant in Emge will be cleaned up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because it contains asbestos and the plant’s owner refused to do it.
The EPA’s project manager, Kevin Turner, said the EPA has budgeted $400K for the clean-up, which is scheduled to being mid-August. It will likely take four to eight weeks.
“We have engaged the owner to clean it up and he refused,” Turner said. “There is a civil process we go through. Under the law he can say he will do it or not do it but that doesn’t relieve him of any liability or financial responsibility.”
According to a report in the Evansville Courier & Press, regulations in the state of Indiana regulations allow asbestos containing materials to be disposed in licensed municipal landfills but require they be sealed in airtight containers before disposal. According to Turner, the asbestos in the Emge plant was in the insulation and transite which is a material used in wallboard. (evansvillecourierandpress.com)
Detroit, MI: Two men from Bay County are facing federal charges for their alleged mishandling of asbestos while overhauling a former auto manufacturing plant near Utica.
Brian Waite, 38, the project manager, and his colleague Daniel Clements 49, an on-site supervisor, had been contracted to remove fixtures and pipes that contained asbestos from the plant which is located in Macomb County’s Shelby Township.
While federal regulations require asbestos to be wetted down and kept wet before and during its removal, the two men allegedly “directed workers to tear down the asbestos-containing material while it was dry, and to place (it) into plastic bags without wetting it,” according to the indictment. Clements allegedly told the workers onsite to “let it fly,” letting them kick or throw the materials to the waste area at ground level. From there, the indictment claims, Waite and Clements instructed the workers to load dry asbestos into commercial trash containers and cover it with bags of debris that had been wetted.
Waite and Clements have each been charged with two counts of violating the Clean Air Act and one count of conspiring to commit that crime. (mlive.com)
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