Florida (FL) Asbestos And Mesothelioma General, Medical, & Legal Resources

Florida (FL) Asbestos Resources & Information:

During NASA's halcyon days, when anything seemed possible and the launching of a spacecraft was an event watched on TV by millions, southern Florida was at the center of it all.

The launch of a spacecraft by means of a chemically-fueled rocket and the stress of re-entry entail dealing with an incredible amount of heat. Invariably, this also means that asbestos is used at some point.

According to several of NASA's own technical reports, asbestos was used in many applications: asbestos blocks were used as soldering bases, and asbestos composites were part of pressurized vessels used to contain the gases and fluids that propel the rocket.

Between 1979 and 1999, Brevard County, where Cape Canaveral is located, reported 87 asbestos-related deaths, roughly two-thirds of which were due to mesothelioma. Interestingly, when population differences are taken into consideration, Brevard County had approximately half as many asbestos related deaths on a per-capita basis as Broward County, which led the state with nearly 300 asbestos deaths during the same period. The ratio of mesothelioma to asbestosis deaths remained about the same, however.

Florida Industries

Over 40 locations in Florida have been identified as ones at which workers were exposed to asbestos fiber. These spots are located primarily in the more heavily populated southern region of the state. Many of these were power stations; asbestos insulation was commonly used in power generating facilities across the nation, whether these were coal/oil/gas-fired, nuclear or hydroelectric.

Of course, Florida has a strong maritime heritage, and shipbuilding and marine repair facilities are common along the shorelines, as well as U.S. Naval bases. Sea-going vessels have been a primary source of asbestos poisoning due to the amount of this substance used in their construction.

Other places where Floridians have been exposed to asbestos fibers include chemical companies and public buildings; among the latter are Miami Hotel, Miami-Mercy Hospital and Jacksonville Grammar School as well as the Eustis Housing Project.

Sugar Plant Workers

U.S. Sugar was one Florida company at which workers were exposed to asbestos fibers. Mesothelioma appears to be an occupational hazard for sugar plant workers around the world; an Italian report from 1995 indicated an unusual number of mesothelioma among such workers in that county.

The American Management Resources Corporation, which has conducted asbestos surveys and abatement-related services for numerous structures around Florida, recently had consultants involved in the decommissioning of the company's Bryant facility and the renovation of the sugar plant located in Clewiston. AMRC also performed air quality monitoring in both projects.

Asbestos Litigation Reform

Usually, "litigation reform" means protecting large, powerful corporations from the threat of lawsuits from parties who are victims of all-too-common corporate crime and wrongdoing.

Florida's Asbestos Reform Law appears to be a sincere effort to restrict such litigation to those who are actually suffering from asbestos disease, rather than those who have been exposed to asbestos but have yet to exhibit any symptoms.

Currently, this law is being appealed. In an amicus curiae brief filed in September 2007 by a number of business organizations, it was stated "up to ninety percent of recent asbestos plaintiffs have no physical impairment...[and] have been generated through unreliable mass screenings." This brief also points out that while the Asbestos Reform Law gives priority to cases involving asbestos claimants with actual symptoms, it does not bar those exposed to asbestos from filing a claim at a later date should they develop an asbestos-related disease at a later date.

Florida (FL) Legal Resources: Asbestos, Asbestos Cancer & Mesothelioma

Florida is a state that has a large percentage of residents suffering from asbestos-related disease, including mesothelioma. This high proportion is attributed to the fact that the state is filled with so many retirees. These people worked during a time when asbestos exposure was common and the dangers weren't understood. Today, years later, the effects are finally beginning to be seen in the victims of the exposure. Florida's response to these victims has been favorable, allowing for damages to be awarded based on discovery of the disease, not exposure to the asbestos.

Florida was one of the first states to begin awarding sizable settlements to mesothelioma victims. Even as far back as 1981, plaintiffs in asbestos-related court cases in Florida were being awarded in excess of $1 million. For example, a Jacksonville case that year awarded $1.85 million to Edward Janssens, a Navy boiler room technician who developed asbestosis following exposure to asbestos onboard ships. While this doesn't speak directly to mesothelioma, it bodes well for its victims. Sixteen years later, in 1997, the Florida courts awarded an impressive $31 million to Deward Ballard in his case against Owens-Corning Fiberglas Co.

Due to the large awards against Owens-Corning in this case and others that came into the Florida courts at the same time, Owens-Corning filed for bankruptcy. It was not the only company to do so. In fact, 74 other companies filed for bankruptcy protection because of asbestos claims, including a major corporate defender, W.R. Grace & Co. This freed some of the companies from having to pay their claims. However, the Florida courts did make some rulings that required companies to pay claims even after filing bankruptcy. For example, in 2003 the Florida Bankruptcy Court ruled that Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust would have to pay the state of New York for over 400 asbestos-related claims that had been filed back in 1990; this was despite the fact that the company had successfully filed for bankruptcy. While this is not a case of an individual recovering claims from a bankrupt Florida company, it is seen as a positive sign for mesothelioma victims in the state.

Individual mesothelioma cases have regularly resulted in awards to the victims. For example, in 2004 the wife of a man who was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2001 and who died in 2003 was awarded over $1 million. Other mesothelioma-specific examples include Zimmerman v. AC & S, Inc., which returned $2 million in 2000; Dennis Kavanaugh and Ingeborg Kavanaugh, his wife v. Union Carbide Corporation, which returned over $1 million in 2003; and McKenna v. Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp, which returned $5 million in 1997. A 1989 case (Oakes v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp.) assured that these awards would be made in full, after a higher court determined that a Florida trial court was incorrect in awarding less than the amount stated by the jury.

Those interested in filing lawsuits should know that the statute of limitations for personal injury law in Florida is four years with a discovery rule that states that this amount of time begins when the problem (in this case the mesothelioma) either was discovered or should have been discovered. Wrongful death cases are limited to a two-year statute of limitations and follow the same discovery rule. There is no specific statute about asbestos. However, under Florida law, the "delayed discovery doctrine" generally provides that a cause of action does not accrue until the plaintiff either knows or reasonably should know of the even that is the cause of action. So if one is exposed to asbestos unknowingly, the statute of limitation begins when the victim learns of the exposure, not the time of the exposure itself. Furthermore, in the 1983 case Vilardebo v. Keene Corp., the courts ruled that, under the Florida Constitution, it would violate an asbestos victim's right of access to the courts if the statute of limitations was used to prohibit the victim from filing suit because the plaintiff was last exposed to asbestos decades before he was diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.

It is important to note that under Florida law, mesothelioma victims can bring suit even if they have already brought suit for asbestosis. The state court recognizes that latent diseases such as asbestosis and asbestos-related cancer are separate and distinct, and has ruled that victims have the right to recover their damages for both, even if the cancer develops long after the discovery of the earlier condition.

Finally, it should be noted that Florida courts are backlogged with asbestos-related cases. Part of the reason for this is that many people are filing in the wrong jurisdiction, filing in Florida when the claim occurred in another state with defendants in another state. Eventually these cases get thrown out of court because of the jurisdiction problem, but they take up the court dockets until that ruling is made.

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