Asbestos & Mesothelioma Lawsuits

Early symptoms of asbestos mesothelioma can include chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, hoarseness, cough, fluid retention and abdominal swelling.

Because mesothelioma affects the pleura, or the membranes that surround almost all of your internal organs, pain or swelling in the chest or the abdomen could be a symptom of mesothelioma.

You are warned to contact your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. If you have been exposed to asbestos fibers in the past you should make your doctor aware of that as well.

For decades, thousands and thousands of workers were unaware of asbestos-related diseases and were not given respirators.

Workers in the asbestos industry would have to be made aware of harmful asbestos exposure if they were given safety and protective gear, i.e., asbestos respirators. In many cases, the employer knew about asbestos exposure but failed to warn of the hazards, including asbestosis and mesothelioma.

For example, a forklift driver who worked with asbestos was never issued a respirator. In another case, a drilling rig worker was constantly exposed to asbestos drilling mud without any safety gear except for a handkerchief. “Failure to warn” is a main contention of litigation against the asbestos industry.

Other lawsuits pertain to defective respiratory protection. Countless lives could have been saved if asbestos respirators actually protected workers from breathing asbestos fibers. Some asbestos lawsuits have shown that employers failed to warn for economic reasons, such as the cost of asbestos respirators.

Currently, defendants in asbestos litigation include manufacturers whose products contain no asbestos and did not affect a plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos, such as 3M Company. For more than two decades the 3M Company has been the target of about 400,000 lawsuits over its dust mask, which was used as an asbestos respirator, alleging the product is defective. Other respirator manufacturers have also been accused of marketing defective masks, even though they were approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). American Optical has been named in more than140,000 lawsuits claiming their defective asbestos respirators contributed to, or were responsible for, asbestos-related diseases on workers who were unaware that they wore faulty protective masks.

Faulty (e.g., leaks because it doesn’t fit the user’s face properly) asbestos respirators are worse than not having one at all because workers falsely believe they are safe from asbestos exposure and can thereby further put themselves in harm’s way.

Faulty equipment and/or not even given asbestos respirators are still an issue. In 2007, Maryland state officials ordered a ‘halt to work’ when a contractor licensed in asbestos removal had exposed up to 20 workers to asbestos without any protective gear. A Worker’s Compensation Report in May 2009 found that firefighters may not be completely protected from hazardous substances such as asbestos due to inadequate protective equipment.

Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that is caused only by inhaling asbestos fibers. Although it is not a type of cancer, asbestosis is a serious and life-threatening disease because it can lead to asbestos lung cancer and mesothelioma. The chances of getting asbestosis increase as the level and duration of exposure to asbestos increases, and anyone who has come in contact with asbestos is at risk for developing asbestosis. Symptoms of asbestosis rarely occur less than 10 years following first exposure to asbestos fibers and are more common after 20 years or more, therefore making it even more difficult to file a lawsuit by yourself.

Many reports have proven that corporations, asbestos makers and industry members had knowledge of the dangers of asbestos and its link to asbestos-related illnesses since the 1930s. An asbestosis lawyer can bring about a suit against multiple asbestos employers and asbestos manufacturers.