Articles Posted in September, 2017

A Michigan woman recently filed an asbestos cancer lawsuit against a slew of defendants claiming the companies are responsible for her husband’s lung cancer diagnosis, which she claims is a direct result of coming in contact with asbestos-contaminated products produced by the defendants. The plaintiff’s lawsuit states that she became widowed in October of 2016 after her husband lost his battle with the deadly asbestos-related lung cancer he developed while working with the defendant’s defective products from the 1960’s to early 2010’s.

The asbestos cancer lawsuit, filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court in Illinois, claims that defendants like Arvinmeritor Inc., A.W. Chesterton Co., CBS Corp., Certain-Teed Corp., and Colfax Corp. continued to produce asbestos laden products despite safer alternatives being available. Furthermore, the claim charges that the defendants knew for decades about the health risks their products posed but chose not to alter their designs or inform users about the dangers.

For decades, companies like the defendants named in the asbestos cancer lawsuit developed their asbestos products knowing full well that the small fibers could result in serious, if not deadly, medical condition. However, despite the insider knowledge, many unscrupulous companies continued to use asbestos in their commercial and industrial applications due to its cheap cost and heat resistant properties. It was not until the mid-1970’s the federal government stepped in and formally regulated the sale and manufacture of the product.

A recent report in the African Independent indicates Zimbabwe is poised to reopen two asbestos mines shuttered almost a decade ago, citing growing domestic and international demand for the chrysotile asbestos, a type of white asbestos popular in many industrial applications. Government officials hope the reopening of sites at Shabanie and Mashava in southern Zimbabwe could bring the African nation back to the top of worldwide asbestos production where it once ranked sixth behind nations like Russia, India, and Kazakhstan.

At their peak, the two mines produced an estimated 140,000 tons annually and about 300,000 jobs for the nation, resulting in a $40 million influx of foreign currency. Officials expect the reopened mines to create 100,000 jobs in the asbestos industry as part of hundreds of millions of foreign investment for infrastructure and industry projects. However, the economic benefits could come with a huge human cost to mine the cancer causing mineral and spur economic growth in the troubled nation.

Every year in the U.S., thousands of people receive a mesothelioma cancer diagnosis from their doctor, an otherwise rare disease commonly associate with asbestos exposure. For many decades, domestic companies utilized asbestos in a variety of applications due to its heat resistant properties. Some industries associated with asbestos laden products include welding and pipe fitting in nuclear reactors and Navy vessels, auto parts manufacturing, and construction.

After numerous legal objections and obstruction by defense attorneys, an asbestos cancer victim’s trial against a talc-based product manufacturer appears poised to finally see a courtroom to determine what, if any, damages the plaintiff should receive as compensation for the defendant’s negligence. The high-profile case claims Johnson & Johnson’s Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder caused the plaintiff’s mesothelioma cancer because the product contained asbestos, a flaky white mineral once widely used in many industrial applications.

The asbestos cancer lawsuit, filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, alleges that the plaintiff used the defendant’s talc-based products daily from 1954 to 1970 and developed the deadly lung cancer as a direct result. According to reports, the case will be the first time a Pennsylvania court takes up hard scientific issues over causation between using cosmetic talc-products and developing mesothelioma from talcum powder use.

However, this is not the first talcum powder-asbestos cancer case to go all the way to trial, with juries in New Jersey, California, and New York awarding plaintiffs multi-million dollar verdicts to compensate them for the negligence of talcum powder suppliers and cosmetics companies. Other juries have hit Johnson & Johnson with massive plaintiffs verdicts finding the pharmaceutical and cosmetic company liable for victims’ ovarian cancer caused by the talcum powder itself.