Asbestos News Roundup: 1.10.13 – Second Hand Asbestos

January 10th, 2013. By LucyC

This week’s asbestos news roundup includes all the 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.

Second-Hand or Take Home Asbestos Exposure

Recently, it has become apparent that people can be affected by asbestos-caused diseases through secondary or passive exposure.

Also known as second-hand asbestos exposure or “take home” asbestos exposure, passive asbestos exposure refers to exposure to asbestos fibers that become embedded on a person’s clothing or in their hair—from either another person who has been in direct contact with asbestos or from indirect circumstantial exposure to asbestos.

For example, cases of second-hand asbestos exposure were recently reported by wives and children of men who worked in the shipyards in World War II. The workers were exposed to large amounts of damaged or “friable” asbestos while on the job, and their wives became came ill following exposure to asbestos fibers that had become lodged in the workers’ clothing. Over the years, the constant inhalation of these fibers resulted in the development of asbestos-related diseases. Case in point, the recently filed asbestos lawsuit concerning Gladys W. Williams, highlighted below.

And there have been asbestos lawsuits filed by children of men who worked around asbestos, and who developed asbestos-related illnesses.

Secondary asbestos exposure is also possible by living in a community or area located near an asbestos mine or a company that manufactures asbestos or products containing asbestos. Many older buildings may also contain asbestos insulation, including schools.

Asbestos Lawsuit

Jefferson County, TX: Roger Young, representing the estate of Melissa Young, has filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging Ms. Young was routinely exposed to asbestos due to her father’s employment at area facilities. The lawsuit names Chevron USA and Owens-Illinois as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Melissa’s father worked as welder at the Chevron refinery, where he was exposed to asbestos. He then brought the asbestos home on his work clothes, exposing his daughter.

The lawsuit alleges Chevron was negligent in exposing workers to asbestos and failing to warn them of the health dangers. Young also claims Owens-Illinois was negligently manufacturing and selling asbestos products, and therefore alleges the defendants acted with malice, entitling him to exemplary damages.

St. Clair County, IL: Michael Dithmart has filed an asbestos lawsuit against 64 defendant corporations which, he alleges caused his recently deceased mother, Pauline Dithmart, to develop lung cancer after her exposure to asbestos-containing products throughout her career. Mrs. Dithmart died September 17, 2011, according the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Pauline Dithmart worked as a presser at The Garment Company from 1962 until 1970, as a laborer at Northwest Fabric Store in the late 1960s, as a bender at Collis Company from the late 1960s until the early 1970s and as a seed counter at Burpee’s Seed Company from the late 1970s until the early 1980.

The lawsuit also states that Dithmart was also secondarily exposed to asbestos fibers through her husband, Dale Dithmart, who worked as an engineer and fireman in the US Navy from 1944 until 1946, as a farm hand at Tom Anderson’s farm in 1944, as an apprentice machinist and a lathe operator at Climax Engineering company from in 1946, as an apprentice brick mason at Don Herring Construction Company from 1946 until 1950, as a member of the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasters International Union of America from 1946 until 1985, as a brick mason and foreman for Clinton Corn from 1955 until 1982 and as a security officer at Wells Fargo from 1983 until 1989.

According to the lawsuit, 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 disease, Pauline Dithmart incurred medical costs and suffered great physical pain and mental anguish, the complaint says. In addition, 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, her son claims.

In his complaint, Michael Dithmart is seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, economic damages of more than $200,000, compensatory damages of more than $100,000, punitive and exemplary damages of more than $100,000 and punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish various defendants for their wrongdoing.

Asbestos Hot Spots

Berea, OH: A criminal investigation has been launched against a small religious school following reports that several dozen teenage students and others volunteered over several weekends to gut a building containing asbestos.

Some of the students involved were as young as 13. They reportedly removed asbestos-filled materials without any protective gear at the former YWCA on Smith Road in Middleburg Heights, said Cleveland Commissioner of Air Quality George Baker, who also works with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

According to Baker, state regulations require that asbestos be removed from a building owner by certified asbestos removal contractors.

Darren Clink, who lives next door to the former YWCA, shot video footage of the illegal removal. The video shows a large cloud of dust dispersing in the air after debris was dropped into a dumpster.

“The entire site was contaminated with asbestos and the people who were doing it were all children,” said Clink. “The kids were loaded with it.”

Sterling Education, the company that oversees the school, runs 35 schools nationwide.

The Ohio EPA began investigating after receiving a complaint in early December, said Ron Fodo, an Ohio EPA criminal investigator who declined further comment because the case was in its early stages.

When regulators visited the site on Dec. 13, they found three dumpsters filled with debris believed to contain asbestos, as well as potentially contaminated material strewn about the property, according to Ohio EPA inspection reports. (wkyc.com)

 

Tags: Asbestos, Asbestos Exposure, asbestos law, asbestos lawsuit, Asbestos Mesothelioma

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