MESOTHELIOMA ASBESTOS

Occupational asbestos exposure kills S. Carolina worker, 50 years later.

The personal injury law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg has protected the legal rights of workers since 1986. And in that time the firm's mesothelioma lawyers have achieved more than one billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients harmed by asbestos.

Mesothelioma asbestos verdict

August 12, 2009 – A Richland County, S.C. jury deliberated for less than five hours before returning a $700,000 verdict in favor of the surviving family members of a South Carolina man who died in 2007 of asbestos-caused mesothelioma – some 50 years after his job-related exposure.

The worker's only known asbestos exposure occurred in the 1950s at Bethlehem Steel, at Sparrows Point, where he worked for less than a year. He was a mechanic’s assistant on a battery of coke ovens and worked with gaskets and packing on the many pumps and valves associated with the ovens before dying of mesothelioma 50 years later – not an uncommonly long mesothelioma latency period.

Mesothelioma cancer is almost always contracted through occupational asbestos exposure and has a latency period that can last decades before it is diagnosed, as evidenced by this case. Despite the long gestation period, mesothelioma life expectancy is short. Patients usually lose their battle against mesothelioma within one year of being diagnosed.

The jury’s verdict on June 26th found that the gaskets and packing manufactured by the defendant, Garlock Sealing Technology, LLC, contributed to the family breadwinner’s death. The jury also concluded that the company negligently failed to warn workers of the inherent dangers of working with their asbestos products.

The truth about mesothelioma and asbestos

Government sources estimate that in the next decade more than 35,000 people nationwide will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. This disease is most often the result of industrial workplace exposure to asbestos – and usually contracted through employers’ preference for profits over the health and safety of workers.

Time to seek justice

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and seek FREE legal guidance and answers to your concerns, please notify a mesothelioma attorney through the communication form on this page. We will pursue your claim with vigilance to help you pay for medical bills, future and past lost wages, and damages. Please know, there is no cost to you until we win a settlement or a verdict.