Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

A mesothelioma lawsuit filed on behalf of a deceased boilermaker’s estate has won a $1.4 million award in Middlesex County, New Jersey.  A longtime member of the Local 28 Boilermaker’s Union, Vincent Cook was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2005.  His disease progressed past the point of effective treatment and Mr. Cook rapidly succumbed to the disease. 

Before retiring in 1988, Mr. Cook worked a multiple jobsites around the New Jersey area including PSE&G sites at Hudson, Sewaren, Mercer, and Linden.  He also worked at the local Exxon, Texaco, and Chevron refineries.  During this time, Vincent was repeatedly and continuously exposed to unsafe levels of asbestos which had leached out of several common materials at these jobsites handled by Vincent and other boilermakers like him during the normal course of their work. 

Mr. Cook’s case is not a singular one.  Boilermakers all across the country were routinely placed in unsafe working conditions with either no safety equipment at all or inadequate equipment that did little to protect them from airborne asbestos fibers.  Numerous products including firebricks, gaskets, seals, and insulation in and around boilers and furnaces were composed of high levels of asbestos before the Clean Air Act regulated the practice.  The asbestos was used because it was heat and fire resistant and provided an inexpensive and readily available insulator for the companies that manufactured these boiler and furnace components. 

Vincent cook passed away in October of 2005, just four months after his diagnosis – not uncommon for mesothelioma patient’s whose disease is not recognized before it passes into stage 4. 

His widow, Muriel Cook, petitioned a local mesothelioma attorney to help her recover monetary damages caused by her husband’s disease and his eventual death.  The suit was filed in 2005 and has only just now ended in a settlement.  Late last year, Mrs. Cook agreed to terms proposed by the defendant that awarded a total of $1.4 million to Vincent’s estate and herself.

Again, mesothelioma lawsuits stretching out longer than the lifespans of the disease’s victims is not uncommon.  Many patients diagnosed with more aggressive forms of the disease are given mere months to live.  And even those that survive longer than most rarely live past the five-year mark. 

Patrick Bartels, attorney for Mrs. Cook and the Estate of Vincent Cook went on record as saying that "although we are happy to have resolved this matter favorably for Mrs. Cook, this was the result of a needless loss of life.  If the premises owners and manufacturers and suppliers of the asbestos materials had acted responsibly, Mr. Cook would not have suffered such a terrible death."

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact one of our asbestos attorneys for a free case evaluation at 1-800-440-4262.