Mesothelioma Legal Blog

New legislation is working its way through Congress that could end up having an enormous impact on compensation recovery options for mesothelioma cancer victims seeking justice for the asbestos exposure. Recently, the House of Representatives consolidated a pair of tort law reform bills targeting class action lawsuit and asbestos bankruptcy trusts to make it harder for plaintiffs to have their day in court.

Asbestos exposure is often associated with people who used to work in the blue-collar industry, such as the construction, manufacturing, and mining industries. Indeed, before the dangers of asbestos became widely known and its use became heavily regulated, many people in these industries were exposed to this hazardous substance. However, many more people suffered asbestos exposure through nontraditional exposure. Many workers who never directly handled asbestos-contaminated materials or products have developed mesothelioma and other illnesses as a result of nontraditional asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma treatment depends on various factors including the location of the cancer, the stage of the disease, and the patient’s age and health. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer linked to asbestos exposure that attacks the lining of the organs – lung, heart and abdomen. The most common is malignant pleural mesothelioma or cancer of the lining of the lungs. Mesothelioma has a long latency period and symptoms are non-specific, so in most cases diagnosis is difficult before the advanced stages of the disease.

Firefighters are quite important to the community since they protect people against fires and other perils. Unfortunately, firefighters face many safety and health risks. When people think of the different safety and health risks firefighters face, they often think of hazards such as burns, crush injuries from collapsing buildings, and smoke inhalation. Indeed, all these are risks that need to be acknowledged. However, apart from these well-known risks, firefighters face unique asbestos exposure risks.

A New York City jury recently handed down a substantial verdict to a woman who blamed the maker of the talc-based cosmetics powder for her cancer diagnosis, claiming that the company knew for decades about the risk of asbestos exposure but provided no warning to her and other consumers about the dangers. The Manhattan jury awarded the plaintiffs, the victim and her husband, $325 million in actual and punitive damages, finding that defendant Johnson & Johnson acted with negligence and recklessness by knowingly selling a carcinogenic product to the public.

Mesothelioma patients, advocacy groups, and public health experts have raised concerns after a recent judicial ruling that halted the implementation of a long-anticipated ban on chrysotile asbestos. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) request to postpone the enforcement of the March 2024 rule that would have banned chrysotile asbestos, the only type of asbestos still being imported and used in the United States. Asbestos has long been known to be the only cause of mesothelioma.