Reading Room

Workers who take home toxic substances and infectious diseases can pose a significant risk to their households and other family members. These workers may come into contact with harmful chemicals, pesticides, and other pollutants on the job, and without proper precautions, they can bring these toxins into their homes and expose their loved ones to dangerous health hazards.

Many occupations and lifestyles have a history of exposure to high levels of asbestos fiber. If you have engaged in one or more of the following occupations, you may wish to discuss this exposure with your physician.

Resolution of an asbestos claim may involve several avenues: litigation (individual or consolidated with other cases), a class action, a court-approved settlement, an administrative claim or settlement, or a claim filed in bankruptcy.

For over 3 decades, Jon Gelman has represented thousands of individuals who have become ill as a result of exposure to asbestos fiber. He is the author of a nationally recognized treatise, now in its 3rd edition, on the subject. He has lectured extensively on asbestos litigation. On behalf of his clients he has successfully brought claims against the suppliers, manufacturers and health research groups of asbestos fiber and products. These types of claims are usually referred to as product liability cases.

A historical review of knowledge leading up to the causal relationship between asbestos and disease.

Asbestos-related disease was reported in industry more than 70 years ago. Dr. H. Montague Murray in 1906 at the Charing Cross Hospital in London testified before a governmental commission inquiry about occupational disability that he had seen a man in 1898 who was very short of breath and who had worked in an asbestos factory. The man's lungs at autopsy were badly scarred. It was Dr. Murray's prediction that since the hazards of this exposure were now known, very few similar cases would occur in the future, and there was no need to provide compensation benefits.

The California Supreme Court recently decided that a special statute of limitations for injury or illness caused by exposure to asbestos does not bar an action for a second disease, mesothelioma, which was diagnosed several years after the original diagnosis of a related pulmonary condition. The asbestos worker was exposed to asbestos fiber in various industrial workplaces from the early 1940's until 1963, when he became a television repairman.The California Supreme Court recently decided that a particular statute of limitations for injury or illness caused by exposure to asbestos does not bar an action for a second disease, mesothelioma, which was diagnosed several years after the original diagnosis of a related pulmonary condition.  

Families of asbestos workers who have direct asbestos exposure have been implicated in various diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.

A federal jury in Newark has awarded $5.8 million in compensatory damages to a widow, and her two sons , whose husband died of mesothelioma.

A worker is suing his World War II employer for damages in connection with the death of his wife, claiming that she died from mesothelioma cause by asbestos particles from his job. 

The concept of a compensable industrial disease has developed only recently and its acceptance has lagged far behind that of industrial accidents. The original Workers' Compensation Acts, as promulgated from the year 1911 forward by many of the states, did not provide for the recognition of occupational illness and disease as compensable events. As demands have been placed upon the medical system to treat and to prevent occupational illness, the legal system, under social, economic, and political pressure, has sought to provide a remedy for the thousands of injured workers who have suffered and who are continuing to suffer from occupational illness and disease. 

The never-ending battle between labor and industry over domination and control of the agency which controls occupational safety and health continues.