Edward March was employed as a boiler mechanic from 1948 to 1987 in various locations throughout the United States. He claims that during the course of his employment and during home and automotive repairs he was exposed to and inhaled emanating from the products he was working with and around.
March names 66 defendant corporations that include Bondex International, CBS, Elliott Turbomachinery, Federal-Mogul Asbestos Personal Trust, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Goodyear, Honeywell International, Ingersoll-Rand, International Paper, John Crane, MetLife, Owens-Illinois, and Philips Electronics.
According to March, he first became aware that he suffered from mesothelioma on March 18.
March alleges that the defendants included asbestos in their products even when adequate substitutes were available and failed to provide any or adequate instructions concerning the safe methods of working with and around asbestos.
He also claims that the defendants failed to require and advise employees of hygiene practices designed to reduce or prevent carrying asbestos fibers home.
As a result of the alleged negligence, March claims he was exposed to fibers containing asbestos. He developed a disease caused only by asbestos which has disabled and disfigured him, the complaint states. This language seems to be pretty standard but it is based on legal theories such as negligence and products liability and the defendants’ failure to warn of the dangers of asbestos when they first knew.
He seeks damages to help pay for the cost of his treatment. and at least $200,000 in damages for negligence, willful and wanton acts, conspiracy, and negligent spoliation of evidence among other allegations.
“In addition to compensatory damages, an award of punitive damages is appropriate and necessary in order to punish the defendants for willful, wanton, intentional and reckless misconduct and to deter them and others from engaging in like misconduct in the future,” the complaint states.
Even though the language in many asbestos lawsuits is similar, remember this is a person who, unsuspecting, worked around asbestos and did not know that the little airborne slivers of rock were lodging inside his airways from 1948 to 1987. As the asbestos fibers built up in the lungs over time, they triggered the body’s immune system, causing inflammation of the lungs. The condition worsens over time as the lungs attempt to expel the irritant fibers. The chronic inflammation causes scars to develop on the lung tissue. Asbestosis patients suffer from a variety of symptoms, but the primary symptom is slow-onset shortness of breath (dyspnea) during physical exertion. As this condition worsens it may eventually lead to total respiratory failure, or to heart failure as the circulatory system struggles to cope with insufficient oxygen saturation in the blood. There is no cure.
