A former Pacific Bell employee and Navy veteran alleges that on-the-job environmental hazards caused him to develop asbestos-induced lung cancer.

In January, plaintiffs Arlie and Diane B. filed a complaint against AT&T Corp., Crosby Valve LLC, Eastman Chemical Co., and others, alleging negligence. Arlie claims that during his employment with Pacific Bell, a corporate predecessor to AT&T, he was wrongfully exposed to asbestos without warning.

Arlie alleges that, during his employment from 1963 to 1998, he was exposed to and inhaled large amounts of asbestos fibers emanating from products manufactured, sold, distributed, or installed by Pacific Bell. In July 2016, he was diagnosed with asbestos-induced lung cancer. He alleges that the disease was wrongfully caused by his employment with Pacific Bell.

Arlie claims that Pacific Bell’s successor AT&T is accountable because they allegedly intentionally included asbestos fibers in their products when adequate substitutes were available. Additionally, they allegedly failed to provide adequate warnings and instructions concerning the dangers of working with products containing asbestos fibers.

For compensation for Arlie’s asbestos-induced lung cancer, Arlie and Diane seek damages of no less than $50,000.

Asbestos-Induced Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. More Americans die from lung cancer than from any other type of cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 200,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer every year.

Symptoms of lung cancer include coughing, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Most patients are diagnosed in the late stages of lung cancer because the symptoms are often mistaken for those of other conditions.

Causes of lung cancer vary, and they generally compound on each other rather than being just one independent factor. The vast majority of lung cancer cases are caused by tobacco smoke, but a significant portion of cases are caused by asbestos exposure. An estimated 4,800 deaths annually are attributed to asbestos-induced lung cancer.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral substance that can be pulled into a fluffy consistency. Asbestos fibers are soft and flexible yet resistance to heat, electricity, and chemical corrosion. Due to these properties, asbestos was very popular in the past in construction materials, especially in insulation.

However, once asbestos fibers are in the body, they never dissolve, and the body has extreme difficulty expelling them. Over a long period of time, trapped asbestos fibers can cause inflammation, scarring, and eventually cellular damage.

Asbestos exposure can occur on the job or in the home from secondhand exposure. Certain occupations are at higher risk for asbestos-induced lung cancer including U.S. military service, shipyards workers, auto mechanics, paper mill workers, construction workers, textile workers, insulation installers, sheet metal workers, roofers, toll collectors, tilers, and plumbers.

Many of these workers are unaware that they were exposed to asbestos and may not link their lung cancer to workplace asbestos exposure. Most individuals are not diagnosed with asbestos-induced lung cancer until 20 or 50 years after initial exposure. So although there are regulations against asbestos in place, individuals previously exposed so asbestos are starting to see the effects of their exposure 20 to 50 years later.