Asbestos exposure attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report that specialty chemicals maker RPM International recently set aside $1.2 billion to cover asbestos-related liabilities. This estimated number is twice the amount the company initially argued for. Originally, RPM estimated the liability in amounts between $300 and $575 million, however, Judge Judith Fitzgerald told the company …
Massachusetts Residents Call for Asbestos Ban
Mesothelioma lawyers at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report that residents of Massachusetts recently gathered outside the State House in Boston to remember the commonwealth’s fallen workers. Despite its known cancer-causing properties, asbestos is still legal in the United States, taking the lives of about 3,000 people every year. The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and …
New York Hospital Exposed Patients, Workers to Asbestos
Asbestos exposure attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report that officials at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Strong Hospital recently informed patients that they may have been exposed to airborne asbestos during recent renovations. Only after a local news station reported on the possible exposure did the hospital acknowledge it, ultimately sending a letter …
North Shore Teacher Questions School District about Asbestos Removal
Asbestos exposure attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm highlight a recent article by the Chicago Tribune about North Shore School District 112, which was fined two years ago for violating asbestos removal standards. One teacher, Steve Bartel, is asking the district to come clean about the multiple violations that have taken place. The asbestos removal projects at Elm …
Chicago Asbestos Exposure During Construction
Asbestos exposure attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report that, during the National Asbestos Awareness Week, the U.S. Surgeon General released a statement emphasizing the dangers of asbestos exposure. At the same time, however, two contracting companies on Chicago’s North Side were improperly demolishing a high-rise, resulting in the release of the harmful mineral. The …
First Week of April is National Asbestos Awareness Week
Asbestos exposure attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm announce that April 1st through the 7th is now recognized as National Asbestos Awareness Week. The legislation was introduced by Montana Senator Max Baucus (D), along with his cosponsors, and was passed unanimously through the Senate. Senator Baucus was also instrumental in urging the EPA to announce its …
Ninth Annual Asbestos Disease Awareness Conference
Mesothelioma lawyers at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm announce that, over this past weekend of March 22, 2013, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) held its ninth annual conference in Washington D.C. The conference was entitled “The Asbestos Crisis: New Trends in Prevention and Treatment,” bringing together asbestos experts, physicians, patients, caregivers, and international advocates. The …
Drilling Rig Workers and Engineers at Risk of Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm highlight the extreme risk posed to those involved in the oil industry, particularly drilling rig workers and mud engineers. Since the 1960s, asbestos has been added to drilling mud in onshore and offshore oil well operations, causing many workers to develop such life-threatening disease as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and …
$35 Million Award for Asbestos Removal Worker
Mesothelioma lawyers at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report of a March 2013 verdict in favor of the family of an asbestos worker victimized by to mesothelioma. The New York Supreme Court jury found that Ivo John Peraica’s fatal mesothelioma diagnosis was caused directly by exposure to asbestos, and held Crane Company liable for his death. …
Bile Duct Cancer Linked to Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm highlight a recent study by Italian researchers, who found an association between exposure to asbestos and cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer. There are dozens of illnesses associated with exposure to asbestos, both officially and causally. Among the officially recognized asbestos-related illnesses include mesothelioma, asbestosis, and several …
Schools Still Struggle with Asbestos Exposure
Elementary schools throughout the United States continue to struggle in protecting children against exposure to asbestos. One school near Cleveland, Ohio is under criminal investigation after students and volunteers helped gut a building containing the deadly mineral. Another school in Alabama just recently reopened after mandatory cleaning and asbestos-removing efforts. The Alabama school, Montevallo Elementary, closed …
The Role of Iron in Asbestos-Related Diseases
The toxic and carcinogenic nature of asbestos fibers is irrefutable. It is now associated with numerous pulmonary diseases, such as mesothelioma and asbestosis, as well as several other types of cancer. Although much research has been conducted concerning asbestos and its effects in the human body, the minerals’ mechanisms and transformations still largely remain a …
NJ Asbestos Violation Leads to Probation
A New Jersey contractor was recently charged with conspiracy and six counts of Clean Air Act violations. The man was sentenced to three years probation, including six months of home confinement, after he improperly removed several hundred feet of asbestos-containing insulation. Mesothelioma attorneys remind the public that, although asbestos mining was banned in the United States, asbestos …
Asbestos Companies’ Bankruptcy Trial Update
With tens of thousands of asbestos lawsuits already filed, chemical companies Bondex International, Specialty Products Holding Corp., and RPM International INC are in the process of estimating future asbestos claim numbers. Claimants are seeking a number close to $55 million, while the debtors’ are hoping for nearer to $30 million. Asbestos injury attorneys are keeping a …
Developer Admits Guilt in Asbestos Case
Recently, Corvallis Gazette-Times reported that an Oregon land developer pleaded guilty to a single count of negligent endangerment for releasing large amounts of asbestos into the air, endangering site workers and the surrounding community. The developer, who was attempting to redevelop a sawmill in Albany, OR, admitted to permitting an unlicensed contractor to demolish buildings on-site, causing …
Pennsylvania Company to Comply with EPA Asbestos Requests
A news release from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that property owners in Pennsylvania willingly complied with EPA officials in their attempts to protect the surrounding public from asbestos dangers at the property site. The owners, Legacy Landings, consented to appropriately clean up and get rid of asbestos containing material contaminating structures on the …
Philadelphia TMC Asbestos Site
In 1997, the Asbestos Control Unit of Air Management Services (AMS) received a citizen’s complaint that improper removal of asbestos was in progress at a former school building in Philadelphia. Upon inspection, AMS found asbestos piping that had in fact been removed improperly along with a shocking amount of asbestos contamination in the building’s basement. …
The Reality of American Asbestos Use
Although the mining and exportation of asbestos is banned in the United States, our consumption of the mineral is steady as we continue to mill, manufacture, and fabricate asbestos on a daily basis. Despite the premature death of thousands of people each year from asbestos exposure, the asbestos industry in the United States and hundreds …
Quincy Smelter Asbestos Site
The Torch Lake Superfund site is located in the Houghton/Hancock area in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The ‘UP’ offers an array of activities for adventure-seeking residents to explore remarkable wildlife and natural environment. In 2003, the area was tested and expansive pollution was confirmed. The contamination was due to the copper mining, milling, and smelting activities …
The Role of Asbestos Trusts
Asbestos manufacturing companies hid the truth about the mineral’s health effects for decades. Corporations literally sat back and watched employees suffer and ultimately die from diseases it knew to be caused by occupational exposure to asbestos, without ever notifying the public of its role. It was not until the 1970s that litigation finally began, and …