Asbestos Litigation

Ever since asbestos started to be used thousands of years ago, people have been getting sick from it. Even though the correlation between asbestos exposure was noted by some ancient Roman historians, it wasn't until the mid-1960s that it was firmly established that the naturally occurring mineral could cause malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. Due to the fact that many blue-collar workers developed such illnesses because of asbestos exposure they have endured on the job, they have sought asbestos settlements from and filed mesothelioma lawsuits against their employers.

Such was the case with a worker at an industrial plant in the UK. William White worked for Plessey at the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, according to the Swindon Advertiser.

White began working for Plessey in 1972, where his asbestos attorney said he was regularly exposed to the hazardous substance. Currently he is having breathing problems because of this exposure, reports the news source.

"The company had buildings made of asbestos sheets and the sides and roofs of all four buildings contained asbestos," the asbestos lawyer told the news provider. "The fork-lift truck drivers regularly used to hit the walls of the building and Mr. White had to repair them. This meant he had to saw the asbestos sheets and drill into them."

As a result of White's exposure to asbestos while working for Plessey, the company agreed to an asbestos settlement of £70,000, which is more than $110,000.

White's asbestos attorney warned that other workers also endured asbestos exposure while working at Cheney Manor and may develop a serious illness as a result.

"Other people will have been exposed to asbestos on the site," she told the news source. "Asbestos [diseases] can take up to 60 years to develop and we are seeing a considerable increase in claims because so many buildings in the 50s, 60s and 70s contained this deathly material."

However, not all claims are handled via asbestos settlements, and sometimes a lawsuit is needed for a worker or his family to get the compensation they need.

This was the case of a UK widow who is suing her husband's former employer, claiming that it is responsible for her beloved's death from malignant mesothelioma.

Hazel Hooley filed the mesothelioma lawsuit against Balfour Beatty Workplace, which was previously known as Troughton & Young. Hooley claimed that while her husband William worked for the company - first as an electrician and later as an electrical foreman - he was exposed to the asbestos that ultimately cost him his life.

The lawsuit states that William Hooley often stood close to workers who were applying fresh coats of asbestos lagging to boilers, which created dust that he inhaled. The inhalation of this dust can often times lead to mesothelioma, if not asbestosis or lung cancer.

The widowed Hooley's mesothelioma lawsuit claims that her husband was never warned of the dangers of asbestos exposure and was not given equipment to protect him from the deadly mineral fibers.

Hooley is seeking damages of up to £350,000 in her mesothelioma lawsuit.

Such settlements and lawsuits are not unique to the UK, however. Earlier this month, an asbestos lawsuit was filed in Illinois by a widow who says her husband's lung cancer death was caused by the exposure to the hazardous substance he endured while on the job.

Asbestos settlements and mesothelioma lawsuits are essential to the thousands of workers who have developed serious illnesses as a result of their work.