Plaintiff Donna P. is suing Johns-Manville, General Electric Company and numerous manufacturing companies for allegedly permanently compromising her health. Donna claims that in direct result of using the defendants’ products and through secondary asbestos exposure, she developed mesothelioma.

Donna states that she had been exposed to asbestos for years due to her family members working on car parts, which allegedly contained asbestos. In particular, Donna and her family members had changed asbestos brake pads at their home during the 1950s and 1960s, according to the asbestos lawsuit. Her husband also allegedly brought asbestos fibers home from his job at Aluminum Boards and Camcraft Inc. Her husband’s employment with these companies lasted through the 1960s to the 1980s. Her son allegedly brought home asbestos fibers during the 1970s and 1980s from his job at Cudd Energy Services.

Donna and her family had allegedly been exposed to asbestos fibers for generations either through direct exposure while on job sites, by working and car parts, or accidentally inhaling asbestos fibers from clothing. This secondary asbestos exposure even allegedly stemmed back to the plaintiff’s childhood, at which time she claims she was exposed to scrap metal that had reportedly contained asbestos from a Johns-Manville location close to her home. Donna alleges that due to this constant asbestos exposure, she developed the rare and incurable asbestos mesothelioma lung cancer.

Asbestos Mesothelioma Background

Mesothelioma is a rare form of lung cancer, where cancer cells attacks the mucous lining surrounding the lungs. Mesothelioma can take decades to show any symptoms and is usually at a late stage of development when diagnosed. Since an average mesothelioma diagnosis occurs 20 years to 50 years after exposure, many patients are often faced with limited treatment options and short life expectancy. While asbestos mesothelioma research is being conducted to find additional options for patients, mesothelioma patients currently have few choices.

Donna’s life has been permanently altered due to her mesothelioma, leading her to file legal action against each of the companies that allegedly failed to protect her against asbestos. The plaintiff states that the defendants made no effort to warn her or her family, and offered no safety equipment to protect themselves from possible asbestos exposure.

Donna is accusing the defendants of negligence, stating that the companies either knew or should have known about the dangers of asbestos. She is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the physical pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, medical expenses, loss of earning, and decreased quality of life.

History of Mesothelioma Complications

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it is estimated that approximately 3,000 different commercial and building products contain asbestos in the United States. Despite the severe health complications asbestos can cause, the substance is currently not outlawed in Canada and the United States, although asbestos use is heavily regulated and is not as common as it used to be. Before the 1980s, asbestos was a popular construction material used because it was cheap, and because of its chemical and flammable resistant qualities.

Asbestos fibers are approximately 700 times smaller than a human fiber, and invisible to the naked eye. Despite the minuscule size of the fibers, asbestos can cause major health hazards for anyone in the surrounding area. Mesothelioma is one of the most well-known side effects of asbestos, as being a cancer specifically caused by asbestos fibers. As mentioned before, it can take decades for signs to appear but doctors warn that there are early symptoms potential victims can identify. These mesothelioma symptoms include chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, retaining fluids, and abdominal swelling.

Currently, the asbestos litigation movement is the largest in the history of the United States with over 600,000 plaintiffs and over 6,000 defendants. Due to the decades of damage asbestos spanned, it is also the longest running mass tort in America.