Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Almost everyone has heard of asbestos, the naturally occurring mineral that was once widely used in many industries and construction of buildings and homes.  Asbestos was readily available and affordable and was famous for its heat and fire resistant properties.  Asbestos is also carcinogenic and causes many serious and fatal illnesses, such as mesothelioma (cancer [...]

The Schnucks Supermarket on Sangamon Avenue in Springfield, Illinois closed its doors to the public and employees abruptly within hours after asbestos was discovered in the store.  The move was swift and decisive and intended to protect the health of Schnuck’s employees and customers but has shocked many in the local area.
A representative for Schnucks [...]

Since 2008 the Department of Defense (DoD) began giving grants to researchers trying to find new treatments for mesothelioma and other types of cancer.  While the amount of money the DoD has to give out is limited, the grant process is open to researchers and can provide a much needed financial boost for cutting-edge and [...]

The name Libby, Montana has become synonymous with asbestos cancer and mesothelioma diagnoses thanks to the town’s history of mining, processing, and distributing natural materials contaminated by the deadly carcinogen asbestos.  For years contaminated vermiculite, a naturally occurring mineral which was once “baked” and then used as insulation, was taken from the ground and [...]

In all the years that we have represented clients who have mesothelioma – and that’s more than 30!- I have never seen such a creative fundraiser to help someone who has been diagnosed with this fatal form of cancer.  Jesse Valdez, owner of Dream Rooms Furniture Store in Houston, Texas, put out a challenge to [...]

A tornado swept through Surry, Virginia on April 16 and caused a widespread power outage when a local nuclear power plant, owned and operated by Dominion Virginia Power (DOM), temporarily went offline.  While the threat of contamination was never realized (the plant immediately switched to a generator to avoid any possibility of danger) the outage [...]

American Optical and 14 other defendants will soon be facing off in court against attorneys for France Jane Deculus, the wife of the late Milton Deculus.  The widow Deculus has filed a mesothelioma lawsuit against the 15 defendants alleging that products their companies manufactured and unsafe working conditions to which her husband was regularly exposed [...]

Did a judge rightly or wrongly grant a summary judgment in a mesothelioma lawsuit against a dissolved corporation?  That’s the essence of a legal battle underway right now in California.  The surviving family members of a mesothelioma victim argued that the judge had no right to do so.  Their appeal claimed that dissolved corporations still [...]

An epic new cancer prevention study, CPS-3,  funded and organized by the American Cancer Society is currently underway with the hope of identifying factors that may contribute to numerous types of cancer including the type caused by exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma.  The ultimate goal of the study is to understand how cancer develops and possibly [...]

A San Francisco jury unanimously voted to award John Casey, a retired plumber, a $41 million award in his suit against Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc.  The company manufactures wallboard and joint compounds commonly used in construction.  Their products, prior to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban, used to contain asbestos, a known carcinogen that causes [...]