Paper Mill Workers Win Awards in Asbestos Lawsuit
An appeals court in Baltimore upheld awards for three former employees of Scapa Dryer Fabrics Inc, a manufacturer of dryer felts. Despite appeals, Scapa was found liable for failure to protect their paper mill workers against exposure to asbestos containing products.
Before the 1980’s, asbestos fibers were uniformly woven into the fabric for use as a felt in an apparatus for carrying wet paper and drying the paper by passing gas through the porous felt. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was added to many manufactured products because of its heat and fire resistant properties.
The former employees at the mill were exposed to asbestos as millwrights, machine and lathe operators. According to trial documents, Scapa knew that their products contained asbestos, knew the dangers posed, and failed to provide protection or warnings. One employee, Walter Patton, was awarded $514,220, and another two estates of former employees were awarded $76,102 and $259,045. Witnesses for the plaintiffs testified that the work environment caused exposure to asbestos dust and that the company never instructed the employees to take extra precautions.
Asbestos is known to cause serious diseases, such as mesothelioma (cancer in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart), asbestosis (scarring of the lung) and lung cancer. Because of the dangers of asbestos, it is no longer used in manufacturing and many regulations are now in place to protect anyone who is at risk of being exposed.
