Asbestos settlements and lawsuits are two of the most common ways that victims who have been harmed by the exposure they endured to the carcinogenic material can gain compensation to help themselves and their families. Recently, there was some major asbestos litigation – both in the U.S. and in the UK – that could have a serious impact on those who have contracted asbestos-related diseases, such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

The town of Libby, Montana, was home to the W.R. Grace & Co./Zonolite Mining Co. vermiculite mine and during mining operations there, which didn’t end until 1990, a great deal of asbestos was brought to the surface, resulting in hundreds of people dying from diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis and around 1,500 others becoming sick from such illnesses, according to The Associated Press. The situation became so dire that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the Libby area a health emergency in 2009.

Now, it appears that some asbestos victims in the area will be compensated for the illnesses they’ve had to endure, as the Daily Inter Lake reports that it has obtained legal papers that indicate that Montana and the victims are closing in on a $43 million asbestos settlement.

The details of the settlement were supposed to be kept confidential, but one of the 1,125 claimants who has a severe asbestos-related illness shared documentation and spoke with the news source.

“They’re not admitting any guilt,” he told the news source in reference to the state. “I feel like they’re gonna brush us under the mat.”

Still, the large asbestos settlement will provide compensation for those who contracted a disease from the hazardous substance in Libby. The news source reports that those with malignant mesothelioma will be eligible to receive $60,723 from the settlement, while those lung and other cancers can receive $51,908. These figures are based on a grid, and those wishing to be part of a settlement must have a chest X-ray taken, according to the news source.

The asbestos attorneys have said that Montana disregarded industrial hygiene studies that indicated that conditions in the mine were unsafe.

“Rather than enforcing the law by compelling Zonolite and Grace to clean up its deadly operations, the state effectively became Grace’s accomplice and aided and abetted Grace’s concealment of this enormous public health problem,” an earlier asbestos lawsuit said.

The news source reports that the settlement will need to be approved by a court before it is finalized.

On the other side of the Atlantic, asbestos victims might also be getting access to compensation as the UK’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of two victims who contracted mesothelioma after enduring “low level” asbestos exposure, according to the UK Press Association.

One of the plaintiffs, Dianne Willmore, claimed that she was exposed to asbestos while a pupil in a school and the other, Enid Costello, said she came into contact with the deadly mineral while working as a secretary. Both of the women died of the rare cancer that attacks the thin membrane that lines the chest, abdomen and many of the body’s internal organs.

The news source reports that this ruling could pave the way for more people who endured “low level” exposure to seek asbestos settlements and file mesothelioma lawsuits.

Both the potential settlement in Montana and the Supreme Court ruling in the UK highlight the serious consequences that asbestos exposure can have on anyone anywhere in the world.

Over 400 have died and thousands have become ill following decades of exposure to asbestos from the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. The mine closed in 1999, and over $300 million has been spent on cleanup in recent years. Notices obtained by The Associated Press show at least 1,125 victims are considering a $43 million settlement that calls for payments ranging from $21,500 to $60,700, depending on the severity of their illness. Court approval is required before the settlement is final.

In 2004, the Montana Supreme Court said the state should have warned miners about hazards identified by state officials in Libby in the 1950s.

On September 17, 2010, the Court of Appeal affirmed the $4,055,000 verdict against Pneumo Abex LLC for Robert and Mary Lou Smith. On December 1, 2010, the California Supreme Court denied Pneumo Abex’s request for review of the case. Mr Smith died during the appeal and his family’s case against Abex will go to trial this November.

After a two and a half week trial Donald Osterberg v. Allied Packing & Supply, Inc., was resolved in Alameda County Superior Court. Mr Osterberg was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2010 and Kazan Law filed a suit on his behalf.

Read more about the Osterberg verdict

Tens of thousands of people die each year around the globe because of asbestos-related diseases such as malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis, according to the World Health Organization. And because of the extremely hazardous nature of asbestos, which was once widely used in construction as an insulator and flame-retardant, its handling needs to be undertaken with the utmost care.

Despite the risks, on occasion careless or unethical individuals do not take the proper precautions when dealing with buildings that contain the naturally occurring mineral, which can have grave consequences for workers or those in the area of the work.

Such was the case of Russell Coco, who supervised a renovation project at the Equitable Building, a Des Moines, Iowa landmark. According to the Des Moines Register, Coco recently agreed to plead guilty to allowing asbestos to be mishandled during the refurbishment work.

Coco’s attorney told the news source that his client will plead guilty to conspiracy to impede and impair Environmental Protection Agency procedures in regards to the proper removal of asbestos and of violating certain requirements of the Clean Air Act. The news source reports that these are two parts of the 11-count indictment that Coco and developer Bob Knapp faced related to the project at the Equitable Building.

The highly dangerous nature of asbestos exposure requires that it be removed from buildings during renovations as such work can allow for the deadly mineral fibers to become airborne. If these fibers are inhaled by anyone they can cause malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis as well as lung cancer. These health risks make it imperative that the naturally occurring mineral is handled with extreme care during its removal from buildings, something that Coco and Knapp were accused of not doing.

Specifically, the pair is charged with placing removed asbestos in an open dumpster and then improperly disposing of it at a landfill. The news source reports that each count of the indictment carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to five years in prison.

Although the use of asbestos has been banned in more than 50 countries around the world, the hazardous material is often still not being handled properly in many nations.

An English construction company was recently fined for allowing its workers to be exposed to asbestos. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site of a church demolition in Kent being conducted by Bernard Berry of Berry Estates Development Limited in April of last year. The inspectors reportedly found a number of asbestos violations.

Specifically, they found that although the structure had been mostly razed, the company did not have a demolition plan and had not carried out an asbestos survey prior to the work, both of which would have made the site safer for workers and those in the area.

“The company failed to take any measures aimed at controlling the workers’ exposure to asbestos and reduce any future incidence of related diseases,” said HSE inspector David Fussell. “This is a shocking case as it was foreseeable that a building of this age may have had asbestos-containing materials in the building fabric, as the subsequent survey highlighted.”

Fussell said that the health risks experienced by workers and those near the site could have been easily avoided.

“If the company had carried out a survey and prepared a plan of work prior to demolition, the risk of exposure to the workers onsite or the general public could have been avoided,” he said.

In total, the demolition company and its owner had to pay nearly £20,000 in fines and costs.

The IBAS has just published an interesting rebuttal to the personal attacks against it and its executive director, Laurie Kazan-Allen, by the Russian Merchants of Asbestos Death which began several years ago and accelerated in the last week or two, along with a scholarly article by Drs. G. Tweedale and J. McCulloch, Fighting Back: A History of Victims’ Action Groups and the Ban Asbestos Movement, describing the real history of the grass-roots origin and evolution of the world-wide movement to ban asbestos and protect its current victims.

Since I am Laurie Kazan-Allen’s older brother, I take attacks on her quite personally, and am always ready to spring to her defense. However, in this case, she clearly doesn’t need my help; it is clear that she is engaged in a battle of wits with a group of unarmed men whose ignorance and incompetence is outweighed only by their lack of integrity and common decency, and she has already won the fight.

At the risk of being accused of ‘piling on’, i would only offer an additional point with respect to the part of the attacks against me and our firm by these same forces; to wit that we benefit financially from stopping the sale of asbestos around the world. it is true that our work is devoted to representing workers and their families in litigation in the US that is based on asbestos cancer and the devastation it causes. But we in fact support the ban EVEN THOUGH it is against our financial self-interest!

Had asbestos been banned in 1960, when the world knew it caused mesothelioma, we would have had far fewer clients, since the litigation would have mostly disappeared 25 years ago; had it been banned by the 1940s when it was clear asbestos caused lung cancer, the litigation would have ended 30-35 years ago; and had it been banned by the early 1930s, when it was clear that asbestos caused often fatal lung disease, there would have been no court cases at all for us to do when I started in 1974.

We support the movement to ban asbestos because we have seen close up and at first hand what asbestos has done, and continues to do, to the thousands of workers and their family members we have been privileged to represent, for whom monetary compensation is often important, but always wholly inadequate to make up for the agonizing deaths, destruction of families, ruined lives, and traumatized communities it leaves in its wake.

We know that there will be asbestos deaths for decades to come, but hope for a world-wide ban soon, so that when our grandchildren look back they will know of asbestos disease only from the history books.

We couldn’t be prouder of what IBAS and Laurie Kazan-Allen have done, and are honored to support their efforts. we invite others to join us in working for a world wide asbestos ban.

Asbestos Industry Offensive

A former New York City safety inspector who faked hundreds of asbestos reports was recently sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge.

Saverio F. Todaro had pleaded guilty in March to a number of fraud charges and environmental crimes in connection with his duties as a safety inspector, according to the New York Times. It was revealed that the ailing 68-year-old had not performed hundreds of asbestos and lead inspections that he claimed to have completed.

In addition, Todaro did not submit the proper laboratory work in a number of cases.

It is vital that asbestos be properly accounted for by inspectors as renovation and demolition work can disturb the dangerous mineral fibers. If these fibers become airborne and are inhaled, it can lead to the development of a number of serious illnesses such as lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer that attacks the thin membrane that lines the chest, abdomen and many of the body’s internal organs.

Judge Kimba M. Wood sentenced Todaro to five years and three months in prison for his crimes, which the news source reports is on the high end of the range given in the advisory guidelines.

Wood said that Todaro’s crimes adversely affected a wide range of people.

“The inventiveness of your lies,” she said, “was outstripped only by the callousness with which you put the health and lives of New York City children and adults at risk.”

Todaro’s attorney had argued for home detention for his client, citing his declining health and his mentally retarded 40-year-old son, for whom Todaro helps care.

In a statement to the court, Todaro apologized for his actions and asked to avoid jail time.

“Basically, look, I’m sorry [for] what I did,” he said. “I’m sorry the effect it’s had on my family, my relatives, clients, everybody. I feel really bad about it. And it’s been on my mind.”

“I am sympathetic to everything I’ve done, the people I hurt, but if I go to jail my wife cannot keep the house up, my kid wouldn’t be taken care of. And what else can I say?” he continued.

However, Wood gave him the jail sentence and said that the penalty he would have gotten had it not been for his son or health would have been “much, much higher,” reports the news source.

The judge added that the health of city residents was dependent on inspectors acting honestly and reporting their findings accurately.

“Your sentence needs to send a message to all city inspectors that they are guardians of the public trust and that dishonesty in inspections will be severely punished,” Wood said.

The Times reports that the prosecutors indicated in court papers that it is unclear whether Todaro’s crimes covered up serious health risks.

“It is unknown whether people will get sick as a result of his conduct,” wrote Anne C. Ryan, an assistant in the the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan, reports the news provider. “Among other things, asbestos-related diseases can take decades to develop.”

The news provider reports that Todaro’s case raised concerns about whether other inspectors acted in a similar manner. Partly in reaction to the case, New York City enacted reforms to increase oversight regarding its inspectors.

Such increased oversight may lead to more thorough asbestos inspections, which will likely help protect residents from developing asbestos-related diseases, which the World Health Organization estimates kill 107,000 people each year worldwide.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and British medical journal The Lancet have decided to join the campaign against Canadian government plans that would potentially expand one of its asbestos mines, the Vancouver Sun reports.

In a recently published article, The Lancet says that the Canadian and Quebec governments are hypocrites because they support the widespread export of asbestos to developing countries while still limiting its domestic use, according to the news source.

Dr. Jeff Turnbull, president of the CMA, has reportedly urged Quebec Premier Jean Charest to cancel a $58 million loan guarantee to a consortium that is seeking to expand the Jeffrey Mine, which is in the town of Asbestos.

“In a wealthy country like ours, we have the appropriate safeguards in place for asbestos,” Turnbull said in a recent interview. “However, in developing countries where we send this hazardous substance, they don’t have the same safeguards or restrictions.”

Turnbull added, “I think that it’s inconceivable for us as Canadians, as global partners, to set up standards for our own citizens that we don’t think will be put in place for other citizens across this world.”

In the recent Lancet article, the publication noted that deaths from lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, have continued to increase in both Canada and Britain, making it clear once again that symptoms of the diseases may not appear until a number of years after initial asbestos exposure. In addition to lung cancer and mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos has also been proven to cause asbestosis, a scarring of the lung tissues.

“Canada is actively removing asbestos from its buildings,” The Lancet added, yet it is one of the world’s biggest exporters of the dangerous mineral, shipping approximately 150,000 tons per year to India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where “little or no protection exist for workers or exposed populations.”

According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the number of asbestos-related deaths in the country increased from 153 in 1984 to 286 in 2007, a number that may even be an under-estimation due to the difficulty in diagnosing mesothelioma, the news source said.

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 107,000 people worldwide die from asbestos-related diseases each year.

According to the Sun, a number of protests against Canada’s Jeffrey Mine are scheduled to take place this week in London, Quebec City and even some cities in Asia. A delegation from Asia that represents asbestos victims in a number of countries recently traveled to Quebec in order to put pressure on the government to halt the mine’s expansion, the news provider said.

While the Jeffrey Mine is nearly exhausted, a consortium led by Baljit Chadha is looking to invest in an underground operation that would result in the production of enough asbestos for two decades. Approximately 500 jobs would be created with the expansion, the news source said.

Jolyane Pronovost, a staff member for Quebec Economic Development Minister Clement Gignac, told the news source that the government had not decided on the loan guarantee.

“We’re in discussions with the consortium,” she said. “The minister has put in place a certain number of conditions, including the profitability of the enterprise, obviously, but also the conditions of use [of the product].”

Either way, Sugio Furuya, the coordinator of the Asian Ban Asbestos Network, stressed the need to consider the human price of the mine’s potential expansion.

“Every human being has the right to work and live in a healthy environment,” he said. “Are the tragic repercussions of asbestos exposures in Asia and elsewhere of less significance than a few hundred jobs in Quebec?”

Clément Godbout, president of the Chrysotile Institute is quoted by a journalist saying that Turkey’s asbestos ban will have little effect.

From Le Soleil, le 08 janvier 2011 (full article in French):

Turkey has not bought chrysotile (asbestos) for at least six years, so it has not been a client of Quebec enterprises for several years,” explains Clément Godbout, president of the Chrysotile Institute.

Turkey had already partially banned asbestos and the total ban means that the use of asbestos will now be forbidden in all products and that the sale of products containing asbestos will also be forbidden.

“Don’t forget that Turkey is seeking to enter the European Union and that the banning of asbestos is one of the first conditions required to enter. At bottom, it is Europe which is pursuing its anti-asbestos crusade,” deplores Mr Godbout.

…”For us, 2010 was hell. The anti-asbestos lobby went at it with a campaign never seen before in user countries. Everything was put in place to challenge chrysotile. In these circumstances, we were incapable of getting our message out,” stressed the president of the Chrysotile Institute.

The Montreal Gazette adds its voice to the growing call to end Quebec’s continued trade in asbestos. In the face of global demands to ban asbestos use entirely, Quebec’s Premier Jean Charest seeks to justify arguments that “safely used” asbestos will not pose a threat to workers or their families, despite an ever-growing death toll around the world.

Read The continued sale of Quebec’s asbestos is indefensible