MESOTHELIOMA GUNNER
Naval gunners risked asbestos exposure and mesothelioma

Gunner’s wife contracted mesothelioma from husband’s work clothes.

Weitz & Luxenberg has protected the legal rights of Naval personnel since 1986. And in that time the firm's mesothelioma lawyers have won several billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients injured by asbestos exposure.

August 28, 2009 -- The following story about a couple from Virginia is representative of the fate of many sailors in the Navy. Gunners who worked around asbestos were vulnerable to developing asbestos-related lung diseases, like mesothelioma, and bringing asbestos dust home on their work clothes, unknowingly putting their loved ones in harm’s way.

This former sailor worked on a number of different vessels during the Korean War and later served as a shipyard worker. He remembered clouds of asbestos filling his ship every time they fired the big guns.

“During wartime, I manned a 14-inch gun and worked in the powder room. I remember my sleeping quarters ran directly under some insulated piping. Every night before I crawled into my bunk, I had to wipe the asbestos dust from my bunk that had vibrated off the insulated piping when the ship’s guns were fired.”

Mesothelioma gunner

In 1985, the gunner was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He was lucky. They caught the cancer early and were able to surgically remove the tumor along with part of his lung, and he survived.

But the years of asbestos exposure weren’t limited to him alone. Whenever he was in port in Virginia, he would go home to be with his wife. The asbestos clouds that he breathed all day also settled on his clothing. When his wife did the laundry, the asbestos came off his clothes and she inhaled it.

Fifteen years after the former Naval gunner survived his bout with mesothelioma, his wife was diagnosed with mesothelioma. She died one month later of secondhand asbestos exposure.

Time to seek justice

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and seek a free case review, please notify us through the communication form on this page. We will pursue your claim with vigilance to help you pay for medical bills, lost wages, and suffering. Because the firm works on a contingency basis, there is no cost to you until we win a settlement or a verdict.