Asbestos Exposure & Mesothelioma Risk

By the middle of the 20th century, it was clear asbestos was dangerous. Articles and reports were making connections between workplace asbestos exposure and diseases such as lung cancer and asbestosis.

Despite the newfound awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure, many companies continued to manufacture and use asbestos products while failing to provide warnings to customers and workers. They chose to protect their profits over the health of their employees and consumers.

Asbestos use finally began to decline in the early 1970s, when Congress passed the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) and asbestos lawsuits became more commonplace.

Prior to this, asbestos usage was so widespread that generations of exposed workers were starting to become sick, as asbestos-related diseases can take 10-50 years to develop. They began filing lawsuits against asbestos companies to obtain compensation for their injuries.

Many companies were forced to seek bankruptcy protection due to the number of lawsuits they were facing, while others ceased asbestos use in an effort to avoid additional litigation.

Bankruptcy

With the influx of non-malignant asbestos cases, many asbestos companies declared bankruptcy in an effort to avoid paying out large personal injury claims. Some of these companies included Keene, Eagle-Picher, Johns-Manville and Unarco.

Following these bankruptcies, the companies were forced to create asbestos trust funds to pay all present and future claims against them. There is an estimated $30 billion remaining in these trust funds as of 2024.

Tort Litigation Becomes Popular

In 1965, a publication by the American Law Institute of The Restatement of the Law of Torts made it clear that anyone who sells or provides dangerous or defective products to a consumer is liable for the harm the product causes.

Since the courts decided that asbestos manufacturers knew of the dangers of asbestos, this led to a substantial increase in the filing of tort litigation, which involves an injured victim seeking legal compensation from the individual or individuals who harmed them.

Many employers and their insurers challenged workers’ compensation claims to avoid admitting asbestos was the cause of their harm. Because of this, individuals exposed to asbestos instead turned to tort litigation, and court cases against asbestos companies rose dramatically between the early 1980s and 2000s.

In 1990, a group of federal judges coordinated all pending asbestos cases in the federal courts and sent them to a single judge in Philadelphia. This caused a delay in mesothelioma litigation across the country and led to the filing of mesothelioma lawsuits in state courts rather than federal courts.

As a national law firm, Simmons Hanly Conroy can help victims of asbestos exposure in all 50 states take legal action and get the compensation they deserve.

Learn more about filing a mesothelioma lawsuit in your area.

While many countries have completely banned asbestos, other countries, like the U.S., have placed heavy regulations on its use. This means that asbestos is still present and continues to be used in certain products throughout the United States.

More than 1 million U.S. workers were exposed to asbestos during the 20th century, and many face serious health risks to this day.

View a list of occupations most at risk for asbestos exposure.