An appellate panel in Louisiana recently found for the plaintiff in an asbestos claim brought against Foster Wheeler. The $2.25 million award given to her was based on a claim that a woman was exposed to asbestos that she believes ultimately caused her to develop cancer.

The appellate panel agreed with the plaintiff in the asbestos claim, saying that the evidence upheld the original award. Multiple companies were named in the original asbestos claim alleging that the woman developed mesothelioma because of the fibers brought home on her husband’s clothes.

According to her lawsuit, the woman’s husband was employed at the mill as a technician. She says that he came into contact with asbestos fibers on a daily basis during the course of his employment there. The plaintiff says her husband brought his clothes home with him and she washed them, meaning that she was repeatedly exposed to the asbestos fibers.

The mill, as argued in the lawsuit, was home to two different power generators that were insulated with asbestos. However, the plaintiff and her husband were not adequately warned or protected from the carcinogenic material.

During that initial trial, $3 million in past and future medical expenses was given to the plaintiff, but no noneconomic damages for pain and suffering came from that case. A trial judge later reduced the medical expenses award by half, but also added in noneconomic damages and assessed a final judgment specifically against Foster Wheeler for $2.25 million. This was based on the jury’s finding that this company was 50 percent negligent for the damages caused.

Some of the defendants in the case settled out earlier on before the jury award.

Basics of Secondhand Exposure

According to the National Cancer Institute, while many people are exposed to asbestos directly in the workplace, secondhand exposure to asbestos can also affect family members at home when improper decontamination and clothes-cleaning procedures are not in place. Most companies have policies in place about the person changing clothes and showering at the workplace prior to coming home in order to prevent these kinds of serious issues.

Much like initial exposure to asbestos, it can take a long time, also known as a latency period, for a person to develop cancer from asbestos. According to a study published in a public health journal, this means that a family member could have worked in an environment with loose asbestos fibers years or decades ago but you are only just being exposed to it now.

It might not even occur to a family member that a mesothelioma diagnosis is directly related to exposure to asbestos. However, mesothelioma is frequently connected to inhaling or touching asbestos fibers.

No matter how a person was exposed to asbestos, this can be extremely dangerous when the fibers are inhaled. They can become stuck in the lungs, ultimately leading to a diagnosis of lung cancer or mesothelioma. Both of these conditions have minimal treatment options available, and patients instead often continue to suffer for a long period of time before passing away. This has led to many lawsuits against employers who allegedly did not do enough to prevent exposure risk.

The Asbestos Claim is Case No. 52,671-CA, in the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, of the State of Louisiana.