A Georgia resident has filed an asbestos cancer lawsuit against Avondale Shipyard, South Central Bell, and AT&T alleging that they played a role in the asbestos exposure that led to him developing asbestosis, a disease in which the lungs become scarred by fibrous tissues, leading to lung cancer or mesothelioma.

Avondale Shipyard is an ocean-vessel design and construction company, and South Central Bell is a telecommunications company and subsidiary of American Telegraph & Telephone (AT&T). The asbestos lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to warn employees about the danger of asbestos exposure.

Plaintiff Louis Trauth Jr. alleges in the Avondale Shipyard asbestos lawsuit that during his employment as a pipe fitter for U.S. Navy ships in 1965-1969, he was repeatedly exposed to asbestos and silica while installing asbestos-laden piping systems. From 1969-1988, Trauth worked for South Central Bell installing cables for communications systems. Despite knowing of the presence of asbestos, Trauth claims he was not aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure nor was he warned about possible asbestos exposure.

The Avondale Shipyard asbestos lawsuit alleges as a direct result of exposure to several asbestos-laden buildings and ships, Trauth developed asbestosis, a disease in which fibrous tissues scar the lungs. Trauth is filing the asbestos cancer lawsuit because he alleges that Avondale Shipyard, South Central Bell, and AT&T negligently and knowingly subjected him to exposure to dangerous asbestos and did not provide reasonable protection from asbestos exposure.

Dangers of Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos is a mineral fiber. It can be positively identified only with a special type of microscope. In the past, asbestos was added to a variety of products to strengthen them and to provide heat insulation and fire resistance.

Prior to 1980, workers at the Avondale Shipyard and South Central Bell may have been exposed to asbestos, a material that was commonly used for a variety of purposes throughout the shipbuilding and telecommunications industries since it worked as an effective flame retardant. Asbestos was used to control heat, and workers may have come in contact with this material on everything from boilers to pipes to insulation.

Employers such as Avondale and South Central Bell have known about the dangers of asbestos since at least the early 1940s, asbestos lawsuits allege. However, the workers were not informed about the dangers until well into the 1970s or 1980s.

From studies of people who were exposed to asbestos in factories and shipyards, we know that breathing high levels of asbestos fibers can lead to an increased risk of:

• Lung cancer
• Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest and the abdominal cavity
• Asbestosis, in which the lungs become scarred with fibrous tissue

The risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma increases with the number of asbestos fibers inhaled. People who get asbestosis have usually been exposed to high levels of asbestos for a long time. The symptoms of these diseases do not usually appear until about 20 to 30 years after the first exposure to asbestos.

The Avondale Shipyard Asbestos Lawsuit is Louis F. Trauth Jr. v. Avondale Shipyard, et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-01680-JCZ-DEK, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.