An Illinois man has filed an asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit alleging that he developed the asbestos-related disease after a lifetime of exposure, including years of exposure in the workplace.

Plaintiff Robert K. was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August 2014. After his diagnosis Robert filed the asbestos cancer lawsuit claiming that his work with over 20 companies from 1961 to 1978 put him in direct contact with asbestos-containing products. Robert also alleges in the asbestos mesothelioma lawsuitthat he was secondarily exposed to asbestos through his father from 1942 to 1961, and while in the Navy from 1961 to 1978.

Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fiber that was once used by dozens of trades. While asbestos was prized for its resistance to heat and electrical and chemical damage, its millions of microscopic fibers can easily break apart and become airborne. Once airborne the fibers can possibly be inhaled, potentially leading to lung cancer, mesothelioma, or other asbestos-related diseases.

Because asbestos fibers travel so easily through the air, bystanders run the risk of inhaling the fibers and developing an asbestos-related disease, even decades after exposure.

From the early 1900s through the 1980s, asbestos was used in thousands of different industrial products, including: pipe and furnace insulation materials, roofing shingles, floor tiles, millboard, textured paints and other coating materials.

In 1989, the United States banned asbestos in specific products. The ban did not prohibit the use of asbestos altogether though, and other countries continue to mine asbestos. As a result, asbestos can still be found in a number of consumer products, such as building materials, friction products, and heat-resistant fabrics.

Companies and manufacturers dealing with asbestos have known for almost a century that the inhalation of asbestos fibers is associated with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and several other debilitating and often fatal asbestos-related diseases.

Thousands of unsuspecting workers were exposed daily to this dangerous carcinogen as they worked in factories, mills, railroads and other industrial occupations, often bringing asbestos fibers home and unknowingly exposing their family through household asbestos exposure.

Asbestos Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma) or abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma). Most cases of the disease are caused by excessive exposure to the carcinogenic mineral fiber asbestos–exposure that in most cases was preventable.

The dangers of asbestos to human health were known for decades by manufacturers and others in the asbestos industry, yet those dangers were not publicized. That failure led to a massive U.S. asbestos tort, one that permits people who develop mesothelioma to file lawsuits in the hope of being compensated for getting a cancer that never should have happened.

The Asbestos Mesothelioma Lawsuit is Case No: 2015L007283, Cook County Circuit Court.