Asbestos Lawsuit History

Lawyers such as Stanley Levy have helped many asbestos victims. Patients suffering from mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases can sue companies that produced, mined or used asbestos and asbestos-containing products.

The first asbestos lawsuit was filed by Nellie Kershaw. She worked in a factory that made asbestos fibers in England and developed health issues. She passed away at 33 due to fibrosis of her lungs, caused by exposure to asbestos.

The First Cases

Asbestos is a hazardous mineral that has ill-treated or killed thousands of people over the years. Asbestos claims are filed for many reasons, but most often involve people who have been exposed to asbestos while at work. This includes employees who worked in factories that manufactured asbestos-related products or on the construction sites of buildings that contain asbestos. It can also be people who were exposed to asbestos by using household products, such as talcum powder.

People who were exposed to asbestos can develop a variety of illnesses like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other respiratory ailments. While some of these ailments are very serious and can be fatal, many have been able to receive compensation for their injuries. This is due to the fact that most countries have laws that require companies that produce dangerous substances to warn those who may be injured by them.

The first asbestos lawsuit was filed in 1929. It included a woman named Anna Pirskowski. She was suffering from a range of ailments, including breathlessness and thickening of the tissue around the fingers, also known as clubbing. She was awarded a settlement of $75,000 in what is believed to be a first-ever class action lawsuit involving asbestos.

In the years that followed there were a lot of asbestos lawsuits were filed. Asbestos litigation became a very large area of law, and many attorneys began to specialize in asbestos litigation. They only accepted cases that were extremely serious. One firm that did this was Kazan Law, which in the late 1980s started to focus on bringing cases on behalf of people with mesothelioma.

Other lawsuits have been won by those who suffered from asbestos-related ailments, such as asbestosis and plaques in the pleural region. The condition that caused them was very similar to the mesothelioma, which makes it easier to prove for lawyers. These claims also led to the disclosure of secret documents that revealed the way asbestos producers tried to hide the dangers. In 1989, the Asbestos Ban & Phase Out Rule was issued.

The Second Cases

As the number of people diagnosed with asbestos-related illnesses grew, the victims and their families began bringing lawsuits against companies that mined, manufactured or sold asbestos-containing products. In addition, mesothelioma sufferers filed lawsuits against the companies that designed and built the buildings where they worked like shipyards, power plants refineries and factories. The connection between mesothelioma and asbestos exposure is strong.

By the early 1980s, the legal battle over asbestos lawsuits began to get more intense and the courts made decisions on various aspects of the litigation procedure. For example a federal court ruled that only people suffering from a malignant asbestos-caused disease such as mesothelioma or lung cancer are eligible to file an action against the makers of asbestos-related products they employed. This ruling, referred to as Borel V. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. was an important setback in asbestos litigation.

At the same time, Nellie Kershaw, a factory worker from Rochdale, England, filed what is considered the first well-known legal case against asbestos-related companies. Kershaw, who had been diagnosed with lung ailments caused by her close contact with asbestos fibers, tried to get the company she worked for to pay for her treatments. However, the company refused. Kershaw passed away at 33 years old from fibrosis of her lungs.

The second wave of asbestos cases focused on workers who worked at construction sites and were exposed to various types of asbestos-containing building materials, including fireproofing sprays, drywall products and textures. Asbestos lawyers also successfully brought cases against companies that manufactured the equipment that used asbestos-containing products, such as boilers and pumps.

During this period, numerous documents incriminating asbestos companies were uncovered. These documents proved their involvement in fraud and conspiracies. This included the personal records of Johns-Manville president Sumner Simpson, as well as correspondence from the general counsel of another asbestos manufacturer, Raybestos Manhattan. These documents revealed the scheme of these companies to cover up the fact that asbestos was hazardous and to deflect efforts to inform the public of these dangers.

The discovery of these, and other forms of corporate fraud and collusion in the early and mid-1980s caused a surge of class action settlements as well as other attempts at limiting asbestos liability for asbestos-related companies. These attempts were met with massive opposition from plaintiffs' attorneys, their clients and the public.

The Third Cases

By the 1970s, asbestos companies had lost the ability to hide information about the deadly effects of mesothelioma as well as other asbestos-related diseases from the public. This was due in large part to the fact major national publications began to pay attention to the connection between mesothelioma, asbestos and other respiratory diseases, rather than small industry newsletters and medical journals. When the link between asbestos and serious illness was well established, victims began filing lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers.

In the 1970s, a decision by the courts that allowed plaintiffs to use of strict liability as a legal theory was one of the primary factors that led to an increase in asbestos lawsuits. In the past, plaintiffs in asbestos cases had to prove that asbestos manufacturers were negligent in causing their asbestos exposures. However in the 1973 case of Borel v. Fibreboard, a judge declared that asbestos producers were responsible for any injuries their products caused in the event that the company knew their product was unsafe and did not inform its employees or the general public about the dangers.

Following this ruling, many asbestos producers have filed for bankruptcy, a process that allows businesses to reorganize itself in bankruptcy court, and put money aside in trusts to pay asbestos claims, and then continue to operate. Johns-Manville is an example. It was a victim of numerous lawsuits brought by former employees who were suffering from asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Kazan Law brought several cases against the manufacturer, and was able to win punitive damages verdicts against it.

Since the time asbestos litigation has continued grow due to the growing number of people suffering from asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos litigation is often complicated due to the fact that the ailments caused by asbestos can take a long time to manifest and aren't always apparent to those who are diagnosed.

A few victims have had to wait years for compensation from insurance companies even after their employers were found liable. The US Supreme Court has addressed various cases where asbestos companies tried to limit their liability by offering settlements in class action. The court has also discussed whether individual defendants could be held accountable for asbestos related injury.

The Fourth Case

Asbestos is a highly hazardous mineral that has killed or sickened hundreds of thousands of people over the decades. It's also a material that was widely used by companies who knew it was deadly but continued to make use of it in their manufacturing processes.

As the legal system handles asbestos lawsuits with a constant stream of new developments. One of the most important legal developments is the ruling Lubbe v Cape Plc. This set an example for asbestos victims to sue multinational companies in their home countries for compensation.

These situations usually result in secondary exposure to asbestos. This is when those who work with asbestos while on the job transfer it to their spouses or children living at home. The family members are affected by mesothelioma as well as other asbestos-related diseases.

This type of case is the basis of many lawsuits filed by families of victims in the present. Asbestos lawyers can assist families bring a claim against companies responsible for asbestos related lawsuits the asbestos related Lawsuits-related injuries suffered by their loved family members.

The rise of class action lawsuits is another major development in asbestos litigation. These asbestos lawsuits permit victims to seek justice with the assistance of a lawyer who is experienced in the complicated legal issues that these cases raise.

Some asbestos attorneys are against this type of litigation. There have been several attempts at passing legislation to limit the use class actions in asbestos lawsuits.

The most recent major development in asbestos litigation is the filing a suit by Massachusetts residents against four companies for how they handled asbestos removal and disposal. The lawsuit claimed that the companies violated the law of the state by not disposing of asbestos properly and failing to protect residents from harmful dust.

Asbestos litigation has been going on for a long time, and it's likely that it will continue to do so well into the future. The asbestos industry has tried to avoid responsibility through legal arguments that are technical, and by trying to pass legislative remedies that would prevent victims from seeking justice. However, it seems that a lot of victims and their lawyers are determined to get justice.