May 2, 2011 - 87 Defendants Named in Mesothelioma Lawsuit
A Hernshaw, West Virginia couple reeling from a recent mesothelioma diagnosis have filed suit against the companies they say are responsible for the unnecessary asbestos exposure which caused the deadly disease. A total of 87 defendants are named in the mesothelioma lawsuit, all of whom either used asbestos outright or put the hazardous material in products they manufactured before the United States Environmental Protection Agency outlawed the practice in the mid-1980s.
William Basil Spurlock worked for the Union Carbide Corporation—one of the most infamous names in mesothelioma law--from 1948 until 1980. Union Carbide was one of the largest producers of asbestos and asbestos containing materials in the world. They owned and operated some of the largest asbestos mines in the country including the King City mine in California which produced a type of asbestos that was falsely advertised as “safer” than other asbestos.
Several lawsuits have been filed in the past by former employees and people who used or were exposed to the products manufactured with Union Carbide asbestos. Many of these suits claim that the company either willingly denied the danger of their products (in some instances actually providing false or misleading information to make them appear safer), or simply failed to warn people of the danger.
Asbestos-related mesothelioma kills nearly 3,000 people every year in the United States. Worldwide the disease is thought to be responsible for up to 90,000 deaths per year. These numbers may seem small when compared to the number of patients afflicted with other types of cancer but asbestos is invariably lethal. There is no cure and while patients may survive for a few years, the disease will eventually kill them. The saddest part of all is that mesothelioma is completely preventable.
Court documents filed on March 14 in the Kanawha Circuit Court state that Spurlock is alleging that he was never made aware of the serious health dangers associated with asbestos. He also says that he was unaware that his earlier exposure had caused him any harm until he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
This isn’t uncommon among asbestos law cases. Mesothelioma symptoms don’t become noticeable until years or even decades after the initial exposure. The gap occurs because these asbestos fibers that find their way into the body take years to cause tumors large enough to be noticeable. They dig deep into the mesothelium, the tissue which lines the inside of the lung, heart and abdominal cavities. The body then responds by causing tumors to grow around the fibers in order to isolate them from the rest of the body. Unfortunately, these tissue masses or tumors can often turn cancerous, leading to mesothelioma.
In addition to failing to inform Spurlock of the danger he was in, Spurlock claims that the defendants in his case never took the necessary precautions to instruct him on the safe handling of such a hazardous material.
The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages to pay for medical treatment and punitive damages to punish the companies for their part in Spurlock’s diagnosis.
A few of the notable defendants in the case include:
- Certainteed Corporation
- Dow Chemical Company
- General Electric Company
- Georgia Pacific, LLC
- and Honeywell International, Inc.
A similar case in Texas recently netted the plaintiff's wido a $9 million mesothelioma settlement from Dow Chemical Company.
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