According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, exposure to asbestos fibers at the workplace is one of the leading causes of occupational disease worldwide.

Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer affecting the lining of the lungs (the “pleura”), the abdomen (the “peritoneum”), or the heart (the “pericardium”), is a disease caused by asbestos exposure. It is estimated that approximately 3,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year. Because the latency period (the period of time between exposure to asbestos and the development of mesothelioma) is long, people who were exposed to asbestos even decades ago are currently developing the disease.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and other cancers related to asbestos exposure,  please contact the lawyers at Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson.

July 2009 Daily Journal Article

"Stop the Whining"

Each year, 3,000 Americans develop asbestos cancer, known as mesothelioma, a very rare and rapidly fatal cancer of the lining of the lungs, heart, abdomen or testicles, caused only by asbestos. Nearly all victims of asbestos cancer will die within six to 18 months of diagnosis. Typically their asbestos exposure occurred on the job where they worked around construction materials that contained small amounts of asbestos.

They came into contact with asbestos from insulation aboard ships and in industrial refining facilities, or from wallboard finishing compounds and sprays, fireproofing, brake linings, cement pipe and gaskets and packings commonly used in valves and pumps, automobile engines, refrigeration and air compressors. It was even used in ordinary lawnmowers.

The workers themselves are invariably without fault in their own demise. Never warned, usually unaware that the materials they were handling contained asbestos, they unwittingly poisoned themselves by breathing invisible and odorless asbestos. Often they brought these invisible fibers home on their clothes, hair and shoes. In so doing, they exposed their wives and children to asbestos, some of whom develop asbestos cancer 20-40 years later.

Asbestos victims have recourse in California if they can prove that they were exposed in California. Many who now live throughout the United States served their country in naval shipyards located in California where they and their families suffered exposure to asbestos. When that victim can satisfy a judge and jury that a defendant's products or actions were a substantial factor in contributing to his risk of developing asbestos cancer, he may hold the company liable for its proportion of fault in causing his disease.

To the extent his economic damages are not offset by settlements secured from responsible bankruptcy trusts or other defendants, he can hold the defendant responsible for the remainder of his out-of-pocket losses incurred because of his asbestos cancer. Since his life expectancy is measured in months rather than years, California affords him an opportunity to have his day in court before he dies. The jury must determine all of the entities at fault for causing the asbestos cancer and attribute to the remaining defendant its appropriate share of that fault.

For many people like Jim Morrison, the California system works to help compensate that which can never truly be compensated. Having never smoked a cigarette in his life, at the age of 54 he was diagnosed with cancer from asbestos and given only months to live. His primary goal was to live long enough to see his engaged daughter marry later in the year.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and other cancers related to asbestos exposure,  please contact the lawyers at Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson.