For decades, American workers breathed in cancer-causing asbestos fibers while oblivious to the risk. These fibers invaded and remained in their bodies which can cause disease such as mesothelioma and lung cancer (even if a person smoked) up to 60 years later. They also carried the microscopic dust home on their clothes, in their hair, and on their skin. Their family members are also at risk for this reason. The asbestos fibers worked their way inside their bodies where they remained for up to a half a century or more. Over time, it turned healthy cells cancerous.
That history has a name: mesothelioma. It is a cancer caused by jobs, as well as hobbies, that exposed their workers to asbestos. Families navigating this diagnosis and considering an asbestos exposure claim need to understand where that contamination and exposure to asbestos happened to determine where legal responsibility begins.
Understanding Mesothelioma and Workplace Asbestos Exposure
Mesothelioma is a cancer that forms in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart. Pleural mesothelioma, formed in the lungs, is the most common type.
Mesothelioma is caused almost exclusively by inhaling asbestos dust. It takes a long time, from 20 to 60 years after exposure, for symptoms to show up. It is this latency period that makes workplace exposure legally unique and meaningful. It connects a current diagnosis to a decades-ago workplace.
This means two things:
- A worker exposed to asbestos as far back as the 1950s or 1960s might not receive a mesothelioma diagnosis until the 2020s.
- It does not matter how long the worker was exposed to asbestos. Shorter periods of exposure to asbestos is enough to cause cancer decades later.
In other words, there is no safe level of exposure. Once asbestos has entered a human body, traveling to the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart, it’s only a matter of time before the person gets sick.
Common Industries Linked to Asbestos Exposure in Pennsylvania
Though all states have blue-collar workers, few have such a long and meaningful legacy of industrial work as Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, that means generations of workers in this state were often in direct contact with materials that contained asbestos. Because the dangers were largely unknown, many workers in these industries lacked any protective equipment or adequate warning.
- Shipbuilding and naval yards: The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard closed down in the mid-1990s but had between 40,000 and 50,000 daily workers at peak production times. Other shipyards include New York Shipbuilding and Sun Shipbuilding along the Delaware River. Longshoremen who worked on the piers are still developing mesothelioma to this day.
- Steel mills, manufacturing plants, and refineries: Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Steelton, and many smaller towns in the Beaver and Mon valleys subjected hundreds of thousands of workers to industrial asbestos exposure from the 1940s to the early 1980s.
- Construction and demolition: Tearing down old buildings manufactured with asbestos materials continues to expose workers today.
- Railroads: Railroad workers were exposed to asbestos-containing brake pads, insulation, and engine components.
- Automotive repair: Before it was phased out in the 1990s, asbestos was used in brake and clutch components that were handled by car and tire mechanics.
- Schools and public buildings built before 1980: Even children and workers who didn’t necessarily get their hands dirty could have inhaled asbestos particles through the insulation that lined the walls of many schools and public buildings.
Anyone who worked in any of these vocations or sites from 20 to 60 years ago could have contracted mesothelioma from workplace exposure.
Legal Options for Families After a Mesothelioma Diagnosis
Individuals and families seeking compensation after a mesothelioma diagnosis have a variety of options depending on the time of diagnosis.
- A diagnosed worker who is still alive can file a personal injury claim.
- Surviving family members can file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the deceased worker. Legal options do not expire when the patient passes.
- Either the diagnosed individual or their family members can access asbestos trust funds for financial help with medical and other expenses.
- Veterans’ benefits are available for military-related asbestos exposure.
- An individual or family members can file third-party product liability suits against specific manufacturers.
Workers’ compensation may be available to workers in Pennsylvania as well, however, it should be filed within three years of a mesothelioma diagnosis. However, it should be filed in addition to one of the methods listed above and not as a substitute.
How to Identify Liable Parties in Workplace Asbestos Cases
Plenty of documentation exists to link past workplace environments and locations to current cases of mesothelioma. Still, each individual case could require a fairly extensive investigation of past workplaces and living environments.
A Philadelphia asbestos lawyer can assist with this part while detecting any and all third parties that can be held financially responsible. They can include:
- Manufacturers of products containing asbestos
- Past employers who failed to provide adequate protection or warning to workers
- Contractors who worked alongside the mesothelioma victims on worksites
- Suppliers and distributors who knowingly shipped asbestos materials
- Property owners and landlords who did not disclose or eliminate asbestos in their buildings
In most cases, the employer is not the only liable party. Manufacturers, suppliers and distributors who sold dangerous, asbestos-containing products such as gaskets, brakes, building materials, and insulation can be held directly accountable.
However, to build a claim, it is important to establish which products a worker/individual got exposed to and who manufactured them. Employment records, union history logs, and even testimony from former coworkers can put the whole picture together.
The Role of Asbestos Trust Funds in Family Compensation
Today, trust funds worth over $30 billion exist solely to compensate individuals and families affected by mesothelioma.
Manufacturers who produced asbestos materials, as well as the industries and companies that used them, tried to escape a tidal wave of lawsuits by filing for bankruptcy. However, courts still required them to set aside billions of dollars to compensate future claimants.
Individuals and family members can file claims against multiple trusts at the same time. One person’s exposure could involve many, many manufacturers. It is our specialty and expertise to figure out this puzzle.
Asbestos trust fund claims tend to move faster than traditional litigation because they don’t require a trial. Claimants who choose an expedited review can get their funds faster, but it’s usually a fixed amount. Those who opt for an individual review will likely wait longer but could receive a higher amount of compensation.
An experienced mesothelioma attorney can identify which trusts apply to a specific individual’s exposure history and file claims against all of them simultaneously.
Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich & Ryan Are in Your Corner Through Every Step
Few matters can shake a family like learning that a loved one has mesothelioma. It’s a hard-hitting diagnosis, and it’s not always easy to know what to do next. However, families do have real options for accountability and compensation, from personal injury and third-party claims to established trust funds set aside exactly for situations like yours. Choosing the right option for your family makes a real difference in the outcome. If you’d like someone to help make sense of it all, reach out. We’re only a phone call away.