The great asbestos cover-up, which began in the late 1940s, is finally over. The first legal dominos fell in the early 1970s, as courts began awarding compensation to asbestos exposure victims. As more dominos fell, they picked up speed and also changed directions. Secondary exposure victims successfully filed lawsuits as well. Now, more than fifty years later, the dominos are still falling. Will they keep falling the same way? That’s the question this blog addresses.

Si cree que estuvo expuesto al asbesto, incluso cuando era niño, hable con un proveedor de atención médica sobre pruebas y exámenes para ayudar a diagnosticar cicatrices pulmonares y detectar enfermedades relacionadas con enfermedades relacionadas con el asbesto.

Victims are still seeking compensation because doctors are still diagnosing people with mesothelioma and other asbestos exposure illnesses. The incubation period for these conditions is usually more than fifty years. Thanks to the victims who won large cases back in the day, today’s victims have legal options that were unavailable to yesterday’s victims.

The legal landscape has changed, but asbestos exposure lawsuits haven’t changed. Before 1980, asbestos manufacturers made lots of money by downplaying, or simply ignoring, the health risks associated with asbestos. Now, thanks to diligent asbestos exposure lawyers, they’re finally paying the price.

Los riesgos para la salud de la exposición al asbesto pueden incluir:

Mesotelioma: Cáncer del mesotelio, la capa delgada de tejido que rodea los órganos del cuerpo. Solo se sabe que este cáncer es causado por la exposición al asbesto.	Cáncer de pulmón
Cáncer de laringe: Cáncer de laringe (sección de la garganta llamada laringe)	Cáncer de ovarios
Cáncer de estómago	Cáncer de colón
Cáncer de faringe	La Asbestosis: una enfermedad pulmonar crónica asociada a la exposición al asbesto
Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica (EPOC)	Atelectasia (collapsed lung)
Derrame pleural (acumulación de líquido alrededor de los pulmones)	Derrame pericárdico (acumulación de líquido alrededor del corazón)

Indirect Exposure

Direct (work and service-related) asbestos exposure claims dominated the twentieth century. The aforementioned asbestos cover-up, and the concealment of risks, hurt these people the most. For example, in the late 1940s, actor Steve McQueen was a Marine. Supposedly, when he went AWOL in 1949, officers forced him to scrape asbestos off pipes, without giving him any personal protective equipment.

This dangerous trend continued. Fifty years later, builders in nine states allegedly paid teenagers and homeless workers as little as $100 a day to remove asbestos, once again without providing any protective equipment. Then-Attorney General Janet Reno called this practice “a shameful human exploitation” that violated “the basic standard of human decency.”

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Indirect (environmental) exposure claims are much more common in the twenty-first century.

Tiny asbestos fibers don’t float harmlessly into the air, as previously thought. Instead, stray fibers stay close to the ground. Furthermore, according to the latest research, mesothelioma’s incubation period is closer to seventy years.

“Algunas fibras de asbesto pueden pasar por alto... las defensas naturales de su cuerpo... y alojarse en lo profundo de sus pulmones. Esas fibras pueden permanecer en su lugar durante mucho tiempo y es posible que nunca se eliminen”.

Fuente: Asociación Americana del Pulmón

Direct Exposure and the Future of Asbestos Litigation

Direct exposure victims must usually file workers’ compensation or VA disability claims. But indirect exposure victims have additional options, such as:

Dueño de la propiedad negligente::

Property owners have a legal duty to provide safe environments. In most cases, this duty includes addressing, and removing, asbestos and other environmental hazards.

Failure to Warn:

Many asbestos manufacturers believe the statute of limitations would protect them from negligent failure to warn actions. But the discovery rule allows an asbestos exposure lawyer to bring such actions many decades after the SOL expired.

Producto Defectuoso:

Manufacturers are strictly liable for any injuries their defective products cause. Victims don’t have to prove fault or negligence in these cases. Once again, the discovery rule prevents these companies from hiding behind the SOL.

Non-legal options, such as a victim compensation fund claim, are now available as well. More on that below.

“La evidencia general sugiere que no existe un nivel seguro de exposición al asbesto”. no hay nivel seguro de exposición al asbesto."

Fuente: Instituto Nacional del Cáncer (NIH)¹

Talc/Asbestos

These two minerals usually exist side by side underground. Therefore, cross-contamination is very common. Traces of asbestos commonly contaminate talco y other cosmetic products. A little cross contamination does a lot of damage.

A single asbestos fiber could cause a cancerous tumor to form in the meso lining between the heart and lungs.

Common cancer treatments don’t affect mesothelioma tumors. For example, doctors cannot use strong radiation therapy because the radiation damages the heart and lungs.

Furthermore, a single asbestos fiber could burn the lungs and create scar tissue. Advanced asbestosis cases are incurable and untreatable, unless the victim is a candidate for a risky total lung transplant.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $8.9 billion to resolve tens of thousands of talc/asbestos claims. But don’t get too excited. Tens of thousands of cases are still pending. Additionally, the company has set up a $4 billion legal defense fund.

“Por lo general, quienes desarrollan enfermedades relacionadas con el asbesto no muestran signos de enfermedad durante mucho tiempo después de la exposición”.

Fuente: Instituto Nacional del Cáncer (NIH)²

Libby, Montana

This cross-contamination isn’t always accidental. Sometimes, companies know about the problem and hope they don’t get caught. That was the situation in this case.

We mentioned that talc mines are often close to, or even adjacent to, asbestos mines. The same thing is true of vermiculite and asbestos. Both substances are insulators and fireproofers. Vermiculite is non-toxic, assuming the mine isn’t contaminated with asbestos fibers. That’s exactly what happened in Libby, Montana.

Vermiculite in Libby was contaminated with asbestos. Hundreds were affected, including many who had nothing to do with the neighboring vermiculite mine.

Between 1963 and 1990, 80 percent of the world’s vermiculite came from the Grace Mine in Libby. This vermiculite was contaminated with a toxic and highly friable form of asbestos called tremolite-actinolite series asbestos, often called Libby Amphibole asbestos (LA). This substance has been found in water, soil, residential and commercial insulation, indoor dust, animal, and fish tissue.

The EPA added the Grace Mine to the Superfund site list in 2002 and completed cleanup in 2018. This effort has paid off, at least to an extent. Today, downtown Libby has 100,000 times less LA than it had when the vermiculite mine and mill were operating. But there’s no telling how many victims in how many places were affected. Because of the long illness incubation period, we probably won’t know until at least the middle of the twenty-first century.

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Texas Two-Step and Other Bankruptcy Issues

The Grace Company declared bankruptcy in April 2023. As a condition of that bankruptcy, the company offered to set up a $20 million victim compensation fund (VCF). As of June 2023, the matter is still tied up in court.

Grace also wants to create a new company, the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury (PI) Trust, to handle victim payouts. This corporate split is a common strategy in these cases. Ideally for corporate suits, Grace would emerge from bankruptcy leaner and meaner, while the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury (PI) Trust gets stuck holding the bag. That’s the Texas two-step.

Johnson & Johnson is trying to escape responsibility for asbestos-related diseases caused by its talcum products.

The talc/asbestos saga is another example. Johnson & Johnson tried to offload talc/asbestos claims onto a new company with a very shady name, LTL Management LLC. A federal judge temporarily blocked that move.

In other ways, when asbestos companies declare bankruptcy, victims benefit. VCF claims are much faster and cheaper than court claims. In return for this speed and savings, these victims get less compensation. Because of all these complexities, an asbestos exposure lawyer must evaluate your case and determine your best legal option.

AsbestosClaims.Law

En AsbestosClaims.Law, nuestra misión de asegurar una compensación para las víctimas del asbesto es más que profesional;es personal.

Nuestro fundador, Justinian C. Lane, conoce de primera mano los efectos devastadores del asbesto.

Tanto sus abuelos como su padre, todos trabajadores del asbesto, fallecieron de cánceres inducidos por el asbesto sin darse cuenta de su elegibilidad para juicios por asbesto u otras formas de compensación.

Nuestro objetivo es evitar tales trágicos descuidos informando y guiando a las víctimas y sus familias a través de sus opciones legales.

Si usted o sus seres queridos han sufrido como resultado de la exposición al asbesto, podría ser elegible para una compensación considerable. Estos fondos podrían cubrir tratamientos médicos, servicios de remoción de asbestos y salvaguardar su salud.

Además, los fideicomisos de asbesto ofrecen una compensación sin necesidad de un juicio, brindando un camino más rápido y sencillo hacia la justicia.

Comuníquese con nosotros en [email protected] o (206) 455-9190 para obtener ayuda con su reclamo. Ofrecemos escucha compasiva, explicaciones claras y no cobramos un centavo a menos que ganemos su caso.

Más allá de las demandas legales, también asesoramos sobre discapacidad de veteranos, seguridad social y protección laboral como compensación de trabajadores, FELA, y La ley de Jones para trabajadores marítimos.

No hay riesgo ni costo para conectarse con nuestro equipo experimentado sobre sus derechos. Nuestro compromiso con su bienestar significa que no cobramos honorarios a menos que reciba una compensación.

Para más consultas o inquietudes sobre el asbesto, explore nuestro sitio web y página de YouTube, con infografías, videos y respuestas a preguntas comunes sobre temas relacionados con el asbesto.

También presentamos WARD, la base de datos de investigación mundial sobre el asbesto. Es el recurso más completo de información relacionada con el asbesto.

WARD ayuda a identificar posibles escenarios de exposición, productos que contienen asbesto y puede indicar los tipos y posibles montos de compensación que puede tener derecho a recibir.
No te demores — ponerse en contacto Con nosotras hoy!

1 Instituto Nacional del Cáncer (NIH) Hoja informativa sobre asbesto.
2 Instituto Nacional del Cáncer (NIH), Hoja informativa sobre asbesto.