6/6/11, Alabama Mesothelioma Lawyer: Manufacturing has long been the backbone of the Alabama economy. Indeed, many of the heavy industries where asbestos exposure was a potential danger can be found in Alabama. The state is home to no fewer than eight power generation plants, six steel and iron mills, four oil refineries and two marine construction and repair sites.

Alabama Drydock & Shipping Co. and Bender Shipbuilding were two prominent employers along the Gulf Coast. In addition, the paper products company Kimberly-Clark, an owner of major pulp and paper mills, had plants within the state.

Other Alabama Job Sites and Asbestos Exposure

One of the most significant industrial customers for asbestos, however, was the Cement Asbestos Company Product Company (CAPCO) of Ragland, Alabama. The company made asbestos cement pipes and pipe products.

Asbestos, when added to Portland cement, created a substance that was at once heat and cold resistant, flexible, and extremely durable. For that reason, asbestos cement was widely used in a number of community water systems throughout the state.

Several hundred miles of asbestos pipe is still carrying water to homes and schools in more than 80 Alabama communities. The people whose job it is to oversee these water systems say that they “doubt their pipes ever leached asbestos fibers into the drinking water.” Nonetheless, they have no proof that it hasn’t occurred. Most of these systems have never been tested; the few that have been were last tested in 1994.

Even worse, in Ragland – where the pipes were produced – people have used these asbestos pipes to build fences on their properties.

CAPCO has been named in thousands of asbestos lawsuits around the country. It eventually filed for bankruptcy.

Suit Alleges Asbestos Exposure at Work

Consider the asbestos-related lawsuit filed by an Alabama woman, Carol Davis. Her complaint alleges that her now-deceased husband, J.L. Davis, developed mesothelioma due to his work at a number of companies. The Madison-St. Clair Record reports that J.L. Davis worked as a laborer, calendar operator, dust collector operator and forklift operator at CAPCO from 1965 until 1984. He also worked as a forklift operator at Temco Metals from 1986 until 1994, and as a laborer for St. Clair County from 1959 until 1965.

The Davis case is a cautionary tale for Alabama workers. However, asbestos exposure in Alabama may have been an occupational hazard for many of the state’s workers who were unknowingly exposed on the job and now suffer from such life-threatening diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma.

Asbestos Exposure Sites in Alabama

Some of the job sites from the state of Alabama where workers were potentially and unnecessarily exposed to asbestos and put at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer include Bender Shipbuilding and Repair and the Reynolds Aluminum Plant.

While many Alabama asbestos exposure sites have taken steps to keep their employees and visitors safe since the problem was discovered, people who worked in or visited these areas in the past may still have been exposed to asbestos. Individuals who lived or worked near these areas or other known asbestos exposure sites in Alabama should be checked regularly for signs of mesothelioma and should contact a Alabama mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after a diagnosis in order to file any lawsuits within the state’s statute of limitations.

6/6/11, Alabama Mesothelioma Lawyers: Alabama ranks 25th in the U.S. for deaths from malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare, deadly form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

Mounting a mesothelioma lawsuit is a complicated process. For that reason, victims of asbestos exposure may want to hire an experienced Alabama mesothelioma attorney who can help them to potentially win an Alabama mesothelioma settlement. American Law Partners Alabama mesothelioma attorneys have helped thousands of people exposed to asbestos across the state get the help they deserve.

Those interested in filing an Alabama mesothelioma lawsuit, or a lawsuit for any asbestos cancer or asbestos-related injury, are advised to contact an Alabama mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Filing an Alabama Mesothelioma Lawsuit

When filing an Alabama mesothelioma lawsuit or in hiring an Alabama mesothelioma lawyer, you should be aware that your legal rights may be restricted by Alabama’s statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is the period of time you have until it is “too late” to file an asbestos or mesothelioma lawsuit. So you are advised to contact an Alabama mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after a mesothelioma diagnosis in order to file any lawsuits within the state’s statute of limitations.

An experienced Alabama mesothelioma attorney can help you present your case and maximize your chances of winning a settlement in a court of law. To make sure that you are protected under the law and to build a strong case, a mesothelioma attorney will first need to obtain the following information: medical records confirming a diagnosis of mesothelioma or other asbestos disease; death certificate with cause of death listed (if applicable); work history or military service to determine how and when the asbestos exposure occurred.

It is important to know that even if your loved one has already lost their battle with mesothelioma, you may still have the right to file a claim.

Some Key Alabama Asbestos Exposure Lawsuits

Two major Alabama mesothelioma lawsuits have been pro-plaintiff. The first was Pace v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (1991), in which the Alabama Supreme Court determined that the family members of people who die of asbestos-related disease could legally collect “wrongful death” damages. This court case was particularly important because it said that these damages could be collected regardless of whether the victim’s own claims would have been disallowed due to Alabama’s restrictive statute of limitations. It was the first litigation in the state that allowed for the family to receive wrongful death damages even after the statute of limitations for the victim’s claims had run out.

The second case, from 1995, was Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. v. Gant. In this case, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the jury was properly allowed to determine whether those bringing suit were exposed to Owens-Corning’s asbestos-containing products. It also held that consolidation of the cases for one trial was appropriate. The most important part of this litigation is the fact that it allows many people who suffered exposure to asbestos to sue a single company for that exposure. In many instances, this can allow for a stronger case for the plaintiffs and the associated Alabama mesothelioma lawyers than could be had by individuals pursuing legal action on their own.

Legal Setback for Mesothelioma Lawsuits in Alabama

Of more concern is a court case that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Alabama court had ruled that those seeking damages due to diseases caused by toxic substances must file suit within two years of their exposure to the substance, but only after they become sick. As four of the dissenting justices in the Alabama Supreme Court observed, that ruling created an insurmountable “Catch-22″ in which it may be physically impossible for victims, for whom symptoms usually do not appear until years after asbestos exposure, to file an Alabama mesothelioma lawsuit.

With mesothelioma, the disease may not manifest within that two-year period of exposure, particularly if exposure levels were low. This creates a situation in which some victims are unable to hire an Alabama mesothelioma lawyer for help or to pursue legal action because of a statute of limitations that doesn’t reasonably apply to this disease. The case was appealed by Public Justice, a non-profit legal services organization. In a setback for plaintiffs, however, the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision not to hear the case.

As a result of the Supreme Court decision, it currently stands as law in Alabama that victims of mesothelioma have only two years after exposure to demonstrate signs of illness to the court if they are interested in hiring a Alabama mesothelioma lawyer to bring an Alabama mesothelioma lawsuit. In that case, they can pursue action as individuals; alternatively a group of affected individuals may come together to pursue action against a company. If the two-year statute of limitations has run out, the only compensation available is in the form of a wrongful death suit by the remaining family members upon the death of the mesothelioma victim.