James Hardie asbestos fund ‘at risk’ after ruling
By asbestoshub | September 1, 2010
Quoted from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/james-hardie-asbestos-fund-at-risk-after-ruling/story-e6frf7ko-1225912970215:
James Hardie asbestos fund ‘at risk’ after ruling | Herald Sun
James Hardie asbestos fund ‘at risk’ after ruling
- From: AAP
- September 01, 2010 6:07PM
LAWYERS representing asbestos disease victims say a Federal Court ruling against James Hardie Industries SE could put victim compensation payments at risk.
James Hardie lost its appeal against an Australian Taxation Office assessment today and could be forced to pay back-taxes of $357.36 million plus interest and costs, barring a successful appeal.
Compensation lawyers Maurice Blackburn say the ruling is a blow to the company’s bottom line that could have consequences for mesothelioma victims.
“The ongoing uncertainty about James Hardie’s financial position raise concerns for the future victims of asbestos-related disease,” Maurice Blackburn principal Andrew Dimsey said.
Under an agreement with the NSW government, James Hardie pays 35 per cent of its annual cash flow to the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund (AICF) to compensate sufferers of asbestos-related diseases.
Related Coverage
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However, the company’s disappointing first quarter result and poor outlook have raised fears the AICF could run out of funds.
James Hardie said this month the stalled US housing recovery would affect its bottom line in the current financial year.
“The long-term security of funding for asbestos-related claims is dependent on the recovery of the US housing market, which is unfair to the blameless victims of James Hardies misconduct,” Mr Dimsey said.
“It is important that there are sufficient funds available to people for decades to come.
“More than half of the people who will die from these horrendous lung diseases are yet to be diagnosed due to the delay between exposure and the onset of the disease.”
Mr Dimsey said Safe Work Australia reported the peak period for mesothelioma cases would be between 2014 and 2021.
Topics: Claims, Exposure, Law, Lawsuits | No Comments »
Mesothelioma: Hospice wins landmark victory in asbestos cancer case
By asbestoshub | August 30, 2010
Quoted from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/29/mesothelioma-hospice-landmark-victory
Mesothelioma: Hospice wins landmark victory in asbestos cancer case
Court decision to make engineering firm pay £10,000 towards care of victim to open door for more claims from hospices
Hospices that care for victims of a form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure hope to get help with treatment costs following a landmark court ruling.
After a three-year legal battle the high court has ruled that a company that exposed a former worker, who later died of mesothelioma, to asbestos should pay for part of his hospice care.
The ruling is a major boost to hospices, which rely for much of their funding on charitable donations.
Engineering firm Foster Wheeler must pay £10,000 to St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, east London, for the care of James Willson, who died there in 2007 aged 76 after being exposed to asbestos at Deptford power station in the 1950s.
A bed at St Joseph’s costs around £900 a day, 35% of which the NHS pays for. As the rest comes from charity, St Joseph’s lawyers argued that companies or their insurers should be liable.
The ruling could lead to thousands of claims from hospices, with mesothelioma cases set to peak at over 2,450 a year in the next decade.
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Mesothelioma sufferer Bernard Dean dies
By asbestoshub | August 27, 2010
Quoted from http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Mesothelioma-campaigner-dies-disease/article-2575127-detail/article.html
Mesothelioma campaigner dies from disease
A CAMPAIGNER who lobbied former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to do more to help mesothelioma sufferers has died of the disease.
Bernard Dean, 61, passed away at the Queen’s Medical Centre on August 21 after a 20-month battle with the asbestos-related illness.
His wife, Susan, 60, of Stevens Road, Sandiacre, said: “He was optimistic right to the end. We didn’t expect him to go when he did.”
Mr Dean was exposed to asbestos while working as a joiner for Erewash Borough Council between 1977 and 1981.
He recently received compensation from the authority.
Mr Dean travelled to Nottingham in December last year to speak with Gordon Brown and called on the Government to set up a fund to help sufferers who could not get compensation.
Susan said: “He really was a campaigner for the cause.”
Mr Dean’s funeral will be held at 3.30pm at All Saints’ Church, in Risley, on Friday September 3.
Topics: Exposure | No Comments »
Libby Residents Relate Gains, Drawbacks of Asbestos Aid
By asbestoshub | August 25, 2010
Quoted from http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/libby_residents_relate_gains_drawbacks_of_asbestos_aid/19253/
Libby Residents Relate Gains, Drawbacks of Asbestos Aid
By Dan Testa , 08-24-10 LIBBY – Though the visit by Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to this Lincoln County community was brief, it is possible she gained some insights Monday afternoon into what residents here want and need – and how those forces are opposed in some ways.
Libby residents at the public meeting, held by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., expressed a need for more help to deal with the asbestos-related diseases many community members are suffering from, yet they also wish to transcend the town’s reputation as site of the worst public health disaster in the U.S. to encourage jobs and growth.
They touted the increasing number of patients receiving care through the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, yet one patient told Baucus and Sebelius the clinic’s services were being stretched such that he no longer received the attention he used to.
And while some Libby residents thanked Sebelius and Baucus for the health care reform law that passed last year and extended Medicare coverage to those sickened by asbestos, others questioned whether the changes to America’s health care system were Constitutional.
The visit by Sebelius, following a town hall-style meeting earlier that day in Missoula, was part of an effort by Baucus to show the health secretary some of the needs of rural states, and to defend and explain the controversial health care reform effort Democrats recently passed.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve made great progress here,” Baucus told the crowd of about 40 gathered at Libby City Hall.
The new law contains a provision allowing sick Libby residents to be extended Medicare coverage as the only community in the country currently declared a public health emergency by the Environmental Protection Agency. That declaration stems from the thousands of Libby residents sickened, and the hundreds killed by tremolite asbestos released from the vermiculite mines operated by W.R. Grace and Co. Over the last decade, cleanup of the asbestos has cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Topics: Exposure, Resources | No Comments »
N.J. appellate court upholds $7M award from Exxon to woman handling husband’s asbestos-laden clothing
By asbestoshub | August 23, 2010
Quoted from http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/nj_appellate_court_upholds_7m.html
N.J. appellate court upholds $7M award from Exxon to woman handling husband’s asbestos-laden clothing
Published: Friday, August 20, 2010, 2:05 PM Updated: Saturday, August 21, 2010, 12:06 PM
Peggy Ackermann/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — A Berkeley Heights woman who washed her husband’s asbestos-laden clothing and later contracted mesothelioma is entitled to $7 million in damages from Exxon Mobil, an appellate court ruled today.
In upholding the jury verdict, the court also said Bonnie Anderson’s husband, John, is entitled to $500,000 and it added interest that’s still accruing.
“If we had a picture under the definition ‘innocent victim,’ this would be it,” said Moshe Maimon, a New York attorney who represents Anderson. “This is a tremendous precedent in terms of the families of workers.”
A 2006 state Supreme Court decision said people with a secondary exposure to asbestos can sue companies they believe are liable. Today’s appellate ruling marked the first time a jury verdict in such a case was upheld, Maimon said.
Exxon Mobil Corp. spokesman Kevin Allexon said the company had not decided whether it will appeal the ruling to the state’s highest court.
“Whatever the end result is, I hope I’m alive to see it,” Anderson, 61, said today. An electrician and librarian, she said she’s gone from being “a supermom” who worked and cared for her family to having to be looked after by her husband. She’s had surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation — which she said gave her leukemia — and now spends most of her time at home, where she is active in mesothelioma awareness and support groups.
“For me, it’s not about the money, it’s about the disease,” Anderson said. “I’d give anything to get my life back.”
Topics: Claims, Exposure, Law, Lawsuits | No Comments »
CARD Foundation receives 10K donation
By asbestoshub | August 18, 2010
Quoted from http://www.thewesternnews.com/news/article_e6e92cb0-aa7b-11df-bc0a-001cc4c03286.html
CARD Foundation receives 10K donation
The Western News , August 17, 2010
Not only did an Illinois-based nonprofit give the Center For Asbestos Related Disease Foundation a $10,000 donation, but the organization’s chairman personally delivered the check.
John Simmons, chairman of the Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation, recently stopped in Libby to hand off the donation as he was traveling through Montana on a motorcycle trip.
The funding will be used to increase the capacity of the CARD Foundation to implement fundraising activities, which will directly benefit CARD.
The Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation was established as a nonprofit organization in 2010 through a multi-million dollar pledge from the Simmons Law Firm, a national law firm that has represented thousands of victims of mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases throughout the country.
The foundation provides resources to support national efforts of improving quality of life for patients and, ultimately, finding of a cure for mesothelioma.
Topics: Resources | No Comments »
Australian warns against asbestos
By asbestoshub | August 16, 2010
Quoted from http://www.itwire.com/science-news/health/41198-australian-warns-against-asbestos
Australian warns against asbestosBy William Atkins
Monday, 16 August 2010
Dr. Peter Sly, an expert in asbestos, warns the world that asbestos is still a major problem in developing countries. Although banned in 52 countries, its use is prevalent in many other countries–making it a hazardous substance for millions of people.
Dr. Peter D. Sly founded the Division of Clinical Sciences at the Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, which is located at the University of Queensland.
The professor states that over two million tonnes of asbestos were produced around the world in 2008 even though there is an international effort to ban such practices.
In the Sydney Morning Herald article “Asbestos still a global threat” Dr. Sly states, “Developing countries, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, are mining or importing asbestos for domestic use, and now account for the majority of the world’s exposure to asbestos.”
The quote came from his paper, which was published on August 16, 2010, in the Medical Journal of Australia.
The paper is entitled “Asbestos still poses a threat to global health: now is the time for action (MJA 2010; 193 (4): 198-199).
Besides Dr. Sly, its authors are Robin Chase, John Kolbe, Philip Thompson, Leena Gupta, Mike Daube, Ian Olver, and Deborah Vallance.
The abstract to the paper states, “The adverse health effects of asbestos are well known, with all forms of asbestos recognised as human carcinogens, causing malignant mesothelioma, lung, laryngeal and ovarian cancers as well as the debilitating non-malignant diffuse lung disease, asbestosis, and pleural plaques.”
Topics: Exposure, Facts, Medicine, Resources | No Comments »
Asbestosis: 2010 Update: eMedicine Pulmonology
By asbestoshub | August 16, 2010
Quoted from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/295966-overview
Asbestosis
eMedicine Specialties > Pulmonology > Occupational Lung Diseases
Introduction
Background
Pneumoconiosis is the general term for lung disease caused by inhalation and deposition of mineral dust.
Pneumoconiosis caused by asbestos inhalation is called asbestosis. The word asbestos is derived from Greek and means inextinguishable, and asbestos is a group of naturally occurring, heat-resistant fibrous silicates. Asbestos fibers are long and thin (length-to-diameter ratio >3) and may be either curved or straight. The curved fibers are called serpentine (chrysotile is the prime example), and the straight fibers are amphiboles. Several different types of amphiboles (ie, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, actinolite, crocidolite) have been recognized. Chrysotile is by far the most common type of asbestos fiber produced in the world and accounts for virtually all asbestos used commercially in the United States.
Production and use of asbestos increased greatly between 1877 and 1967. In the 1930s and 1940s, scientists recognized a causal link between asbestos exposure and asbestosis. In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers established asbestos as a predisposing factor for bronchogenic carcinoma and malignant mesothelioma.
Topics: Facts, Medicine, Resources | No Comments »
GM’s Estate May Face Billions of Dollars in Asbestos Claims, Creditors Say
By asbestoshub | August 11, 2010
Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/gm-s-estate-may-face-billions-in-asbestos-claims-creditors-committee-says.html
GM’s Estate May Face Billions of Dollars in Asbestos Claims, Creditors Say
By Tiffany Kary - Aug 9, 2010 6:09 PM ET
Creditors of General Motors Corp.’s bankruptcy estate won permission to seek data from new General Motors and other parties to estimate what could be billions of dollars in asbestos claims.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in New York today granted permission to unsecured creditors to request documents, after they agreed to keep sensitive information confidential.
“This isn’t like the formula for Coke or nuclear launch codes,” Gerber said, after taking hours of testimony about the risks that the information could be misused if disclosed.
Motors Liquidation Co., the remains of General Motors still in bankruptcy, plans to create a trust, allowing it to exit bankruptcy with some funds set aside to pay future tort claims. While the estate recorded an estimate of $648 million for asbestos liability, a committee of creditors said in a court filing the estate may face claims for five to 10 times as much.
Pinning down the liabilities of GM’s bankrupt remains is key to exiting bankruptcy. In May, Gerber extended the bankrupt estate’s exclusive control over its liquidation until this fall, citing the need to resolve asbestos and environmental liabilities.
Brake linings used in Old GM’s automobiles incorporated small amounts of encapsulated asbestos, creditors said in court documents. Under Gerber’s order, the creditors can demand documents from trusts that are processing asbestos claims on behalf of other bankrupt companies.
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Order Tossing Expert Grabs Attention in Asbestos Case
By asbestoshub | August 11, 2010
Quoted from http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202464446271
Order Tossing Expert Grabs Attention in Asbestos Case
Katheryn Hayes Tucker
Fulton County Daily Report
August 11, 2010
Orders from a middle Georgia judge throwing out an expert witness and the asbestos suit his testimony was going to support have defense attorneys celebrating and plaintiffs lawyers bearing down for an appellate battle.
At issue is a June 29 decision by Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge John Lee Parrott. He barred the testimony of John Maddox, a pathologist who claims that asbestos caused the lung disease that killed the plaintiff’s husband.
The problem, Parrott said, is the doctor’s opinion that any exposure to asbestos causes injury. That opinion, the judge said, “is not practically testable and has not been tested,” thereby violating one of the prongs of Georgia’s 2005 law governing the use of expert witnesses.
The law, based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1993 Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals decision, 509 U.S. 579, says that expert witnesses may be barred from testifying if their theories or techniques cannot be tested.
“[T]he courtroom is not the place for scientific guesswork, even of the inspired sort,” Parrott wrote, quoting a 1996 decision from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lawyers who defend companies from asbestos cases hailed Parrott’s decision as great news and predicted it could influence other judges around the state.
Lawyers for asbestos plaintiffs dismissed the ruling.
Topics: Claims, Law, Lawsuits, Medicine | No Comments »
