Demonstrating the length of time it can take before diseases related to asbestos exposure can manifest themselves, one Michigan man was first diagnosed with cancer this February after nearly 40 years of asbestos exposure ending in 1988, according to a mesothelioma lawsuit filed by his asbestos lawyers.

The legal action is on behalf of Charles Shall and his wife Ursula Shall. While the named defendant is Foster Wheeler, the vast majority of the period of asbestos exposure occurred during Shall’s service as a machinist’s mate and metalsmith in the U.S. Navy and during his time as a machinist and/or supervisor at the Pontiac Fisher Body Shop throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

He “sustained an asbestos-related lung disease by the inhalation of asbestos fibers at … [his] job sites.” According to his mesothelioma lawsuit, Foster Wheeler and alternate entities used and ordered the use of asbestos-containing products “in a manner that was reasonably foreseeable” but while having generalized knowledge since the 1930s that the use of that material rendered “said products hazardous, unsafe and dangerous for use[.]”

The work that Shall did where he suffered asbestos exposure is common of the factual allegations in complaints filed by many mesothelioma class action lawsuit attorneys. The victims often worked in shipyards or on naval vessels, and many others worked in fabrication or manufacturing environments.

However, his wife Ursula is also seeking damages from Foster Wheeler, a manufacturer of products that used asbestos. As a result of her spouse’s diagnosis, she has suffered from a “loss of consortium” or the injury that arises when the marriage has been irrevocably altered as a result of a dangerous product and the harm it causes to a husband or wife.

The mesothelioma lawsuit is Charles Shall and Ursula Shall v. Foster Wheeler LLC, Case No. 14-cv-01432, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.