A lawsuit alleging occupational exposure to asbestos has concluded with a nearly $33 million payment related to a tire plant worker’s death. A federal jury in North Carolina found that the employee was not properly warned about the dangers of asbestos.

The occupational exposure to asbestos lawsuit was filed against Covil Corp. and concluded after two hours of deliberation and five days of trial.

The lawsuit was filed after the death of Franklin F., whose family alleged that he experienced occupational exposure to asbestos while working at a factory managed by Firestone between 1975 and 1995. The jury found that Covil did not give an appropriate warning about the risk of exposure to asbestos and awarded the surviving widow $32.7 million.

According to the lawsuit, Franklin worked in the curing room of Firestone where he was allegedly exposed to insulation that contained asbestos. While he was covering steam lines on a regular basis across a two-decade period, the lawsuit alleges that he inhaled the dangerous fibers.

Franklin was diagnosed with mesothelioma in March 2016. Several months later, he and his wife filed the occupational exposure to asbestos lawsuit. In January 2017, Franklin passed away.

According to the lawsuit, Covil went out of business in 1991.

Several of the claims in the original occupational exposure to asbestos lawsuit were dismissed, including premises liability, product liability and punitive damages. Pfizer Inc. was also named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, but that company was voluntarily dismissed from the case in June.

The judge also found that the surviving widow did not prove that a tire parts maker, McNeil, had products that sufficiently contained asbestos or that those products led to her husband’s asbestos exposure, so, six weeks prior to the trial, that company was released from the suit.

While asbestos is significantly restricted today, it was used inside products and buildings throughout the 20^th century, particularly in shipyards. Additionally, buildings constructed with the material may still contain asbestos.

Occupational exposure to asbestos could build up over time for workers who interacted with the material on a regular basis. Exposure has been linked to the development of lung cancer and mesothelioma. Since it can take decades for this to occur, many people affected by occupation exposure to asbestos are retirement age and older.

Unfortunately, many of the medical diagnoses common to people who were exposed to asbestos in the workplace are quite serious and can escalate quickly with no opportunity for treatment.

The Occupational Exposure to Asbestos Lawsuit is Case No. 1:16-cv-01077 filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.