It is a well known fact that asbestos exposure is the principal inciting factor in the pathogenesis of mesothelioma, causing about 80% of the occurrence of malignant mesothelioma. Asbestos was extensively used in the 1930s as a component in a variety of household parts and commercial products. Ever since the discovery of its potential role in the development of malignant mesothelioma in the late 1960s, a lot of effort sanctioned by the U.S. federal government has been put into replacing asbestos with safer synthetic minerals and products, especially in those products that are used in building houses and accessorizing homes. Since 1975, asbestos has been largely replaced by fiberglass or slag wool, in an effort to help minimize unnecessary exposure to this carcinogen.
In 1988, the Asbestos Information Act was passed in the USA. This law stipulated that there be an early identification of the manufacturer or processor of a particular type of asbestos or any material that contains asbestos. This law was passed in the hopes of cutting down the time and reducing the costs involved in naming the involved parties that would possibly stand as defendants in asbestos litigation in cases where in their respective products would be involved in a lawsuit. With this law in place, manufacturers of asbestos producing products were now also required to submit a list of the different types of products they carry, any characteristic markings on these products, and the year these were manufactured to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is then responsible and required for publishing these for the consumer's consumption and benefit.
Despite these efforts by the federal government to mandatorily make companies disclose the presence of asbestos in certain products and have these companies realize the possible repercussions of continuing to incorporate asbestos in their products such as large payouts to aggrieved parties, 30 million pounds of asbestos each year is still reportedly being used in the U.S. today. More than 1 million workers are still being exposed to this carcinogen. A reported 3,000 new cases of malignant mesothelioma is still diagnosed in the U.S. each year.
It follows that a number of costly and damaging lawsuits have been filed by these aggrieved parties against these companies. A report out of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice in August of 2001 cited about 41 corporations and as many as 500,000 claimants have declared bankruptcy due to the accumulated costs from asbestos related litigations. A September 2001 Best's Review article estimated the total cost of these lawsuits and claims to be around $275 billion.
Claimants may receive as much as $200 million as a reward for any compensatory and punitive damages that was aggrieved them. This would be able to take care of any medical bills that plaintiffs may have had incurred in the past as well as those that they have in the present and will incur in the future. This is also deemed more than sufficient by most courts to pay for whatever pain, anxiety, and emotional turmoil that plaintiffs may have been forced to endure as a result of undisclosed exposure to asbestos. A certain Rhoda Evans was one to be fortunately awarded by a Los Angeles court exactly just this amount as a reward for having been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma due to secondary exposure to asbestos. Ms. Rhoda Evans was the wife of a pipe worker who cut asbestos pipes for the Department of Water and Power for 20 some years.
It should be made extra clear to claimants however that compensations vary depending on certain facts of their cases. These include the extent of their injuries, length of time of asbestos exposure, conduct of the defendants, and other factors that the judge may deem significant to include in the calculation of the final settlement.
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