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Montana Mesothelioma Settlement

You have likely seen one of the many recent advertisements on television by a mesothelioma attorney warning of the risks of asbestos and the opportunity to file a mesothelioma lawsuit if you develop the deadly disease after exposure to asbestos.

Mesothelioma lawsuits are generally filed by mesothelioma attorneys representing those who worked with or around asbestos when it was in widespread use from the 1930s until the 1970s.

Most often victims of mesothelioma encountered asbestos on a daily basis working in boiler rooms, in shipbuilding, or in automotive or industrial positions. Often, our brave service men were the ones exposed. Even sadder is the secondary exposure often experienced by families of those who worked with asbestos.

The most shocking story of asbestos risks, however, is the fact that it is still present in thousands of buildings around the country and most importantly in many of our nation’s schools.

While many expect that workers who are earning a living run an inherent risk of coming into contact with potentially harmful substances, no one expects our defenseless children to risk coming into contact with the deadly substance while at school.

Exposure to asbestos has been linked to several severe conditions including mesothelioma, a cancerous disease that attacks the linings of the body’s vital organs. This disease most often affects the heart, lungs and abdomen. Health experts estimate that mesothelioma kills between 2,000 and 3,000 people each year.

Mesothelioma is especially worrisome as it has no known cure and spreads quickly throughout the body once it surfaces. Although experts preach close monitoring for early detection as the best prevention, the fact that the disease can take 20-50 years or more to develop makes this very difficult.

Perhaps more troubling to parents is that children may never know whether or not they have been exposed to asbestos in their school, therefore they will not know to monitor for the general symptoms in time later in life. However, many recent reports indicate that the presence of asbestos in schools across our country is still a problem.

In Rhode Island, the collapse of a roof in an elementary school that was only 20 years old unveiled the danger that asbestos materials were present in the school. The area affected had to be shut down for repairs and asbestos removal.

Elsewhere, a school in Colorado last year had to be evacuated and shut down for an extended period of time while abatement contractors inspected and removed a substance that was thought to be asbestos.

Two years ago in New Hampshire, inspectors with the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that a school which was operating both an elementary and nursery school had failed to report that asbestos was present on the property. Although the owners were fined and ordered to remove the substance, this did not prevent kids being put at risk.

Montana Mesothelioma Settlement

Victims of asbestos exposure who hire a mesothelioma lawyer to file a mesothelioma lawsuit usually do so against the company that mined, manufactured or used the asbestos that caused their illness.

In many cases, however, the company that sold or used the asbestos has since declared bankruptcy, been sold or no longer exists. A unique case in Montana explored the recourse available to residents of a state who have been left with no help after mass exposure to asbestos.

It was recently released that their may be a settlement of the more than 1,000 lawsuits filed against the state of Montana by the residents of the town of Libby who developed mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases from the nearby asbestos mines.

Asbestos injury lawsuits aren’t usually filed against state agencies, however, residents of the areas surrounding Libby, Montana were left with no other recourse after the company at fault, W.R. Grace, filed for bankruptcy in 2001. This halted many of the lawsuits that had been filed for injury and wrongful death.

The mesothelioma lawsuits and asbestos disease lawsuits filed against the state of Montana and several state agencies alleged among other things that the state failed to use proper oversight of the operations at the plant and mine and failed to properly protect its citizens.

Officials at W.R. Grace were originally warned by the state in 1956 that the asbestos may be extremely harmful, however, little was done to protect workers or nearby residents from that time until the mine closed in 1990.

As more and more people began developing mesothelioma in the late 1990’s, questions were raised about the inaction by state agencies to protect people against exposure or warn the public about the severe risks of asbestos.

Although reports put the amount of the settlement at around $43 million, many people and victims are questioning whether this amount is sufficient or whether all of those affected have been included in the action.

Initially, around 800 lawsuits were filed by those affected with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases. As recent as this month, that number was up to 1,125 individual lawsuits.

Victim advocates point to the fact, however, that the asbestos disease center in Libby, Montana, or CARD clinic, currently has around 2,800 open files for victims of asbestos-related diseases, and they add more every month. This would suggest that many have been left out of the lawsuit set to settle.

Of the proposed $43 million settlement, those with mesothelioma would receive approximately $61,000, while those with lung cancer and other cancers would get nearly $52,000. Victims of other diseases could get as little as $34,279. Also, these amounts will have attorney’s fees of approximately 33% deducted.

These amounts are quite small in lawsuits that typically bring verdicts in the millions of dollars. However, with no recourse left against the company that actually operated and profited from the asbestos disaster, residents may have to settle for what is offered to them.

State officials are set to meet soon to discuss approval of the proposed settlement since it exceeds $10,000 per case. The state’s insurance company has reportedly already agreed to the settlement amount.