A former boilermaker is claiming compensation for his asbestos-related lung disease after decades of working in ship maintenance.
The plaintiff, Gunther N., has a long history of working in ships, shipyards, industrial sites, and other sorts of workplaces where asbestos was present.
He says that during basic training for the U.S. Navy in the 1950s, he slept under insulated pipes that shed debris. After that, he spent several years working as a boilermaker, removing and replacing insulation, packing and gaskets while maintaining ships’ boilers and steam pipes.
Gunther recalls the environments he worked in were very dusty, and he often had to cut up asbestos-containing materials, sweep them up and carry them off to dump them in a trash receptacle. Later he worked for Dow Chemical as a machine operator from 1978 to 1995, working close to several other asbestos-containing products while they were being cleaned or removed.
In February 2012, Gunther was diagnosed with asbestos-related pleural disease, and by November 2013 he had also developed an asbestos-related lung disease.
Gunther is now suing defendant Foster Wheeler LLC, the contemporary successor to Foster Wheeler Corporation. The latter had manufactured the asbestos-containing products Gunther was exposed to throughout his career, he says.
He also says that even though he used the defendant’s products as they were intended, they released asbestos dust into the air which he then inhaled and which eventually led to incurable lung disease.
Gunther says that rather than take steps to protect people from the danger of asbestos exposure, Foster Wheeler intentionally withheld information about that danger. He argues that by doing so, Foster Wheeler presented asbestos-containing products to the public as if they were safe for all reasonably foreseeable uses when in fact they were not.
Gunther’s legal claims are based on theories of negligence and products liability. He seeks compensation in the form of replacement of lost income and earning potential, medical and other expenses, and general damages. He is also asking the court for an award of punitive damages and for reimbursement of his costs and attorneys’ fees.
The Asbestos Lawsuit is Case No. 4:15-CV-04521, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
What is Asbestos
Asbestos is a mineral composed of tiny fibers that when physically disturbed can become airborne and inhaled. The fibers can lodge in respiratory tissue permanently, and can eventually cause potentially deadly asbestos-related respiratory diseases like mesothelioma or lung cancer. Asbestos disease may not develop until several decades after exposure.
Despite the health risks, asbestos was used in many industrial applications in the U.S. during the mid-20th century. Brake parts, cement, fireproofing materials, and insulation for ships’ pipes and boilers were all widely made with asbestos.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, as victims of asbestos exposure years earlier began to be diagnosed with asbestos-related disease, they began seeking compensation through asbestos lawsuits. The U.S. government responded by setting up legal restrictions on asbestos use.
In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act that would have banned most products that contain asbestos. However, industrial interests sued over the rule and eventually pared back those restrictions.
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