Rhode Island (RI) Mesothelioma, Asbestos Cancer, and General Asbestos Resources

Rhode Island (RI) Asbestos Information:

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The smallest of the fifty states has nothing in the way of asbestos industries; nonetheless, between 1980 and 2000--during which the population increased by over 10%, from 947,000 to 1.05 million--216 patients succumbed to asbestos diseases. Of these, 115 deaths were due to mesothelioma and the remaining 101 to asbestosis, mostly concentrated in and around the state's largest city of Providence.

There is one natural serpentine deposit in Rhode Island, which is located in the northeastern part of the state in the Diamond Hill region.

Most asbestos exposure, however, was most likely due to the asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) used in many building supplies. These were installed in most buildings prior to 1980, and may still be found in a large number of them.

Where to Find an ACM

The modern American asbestos industry was started just before the U.S. Civil War in New York City by Henry W. Johns. The descendant of that company, Johns-Manville, was one of the corporations involved in the conspiracy to withhold information from the public regarding the hazards of asbestos.

In the 1850s, however, Johns believed he had come up with a solution to the problem of structure fires - a common danger in those days of gas lighting, open-flame cooking and wooden buildings with varnished interiors.

Eventually, Johns was killed by the very product from which he had made a fortune, dying forty years later of asbestosis. At the same time (around the year 1900), medical science was beginning to suspect the hazards posed by asbestos to respiratory health. It was not until the 1930s however that the connection was fully understood, and in the U.S., these dangers were an "open secret" until the discovery of the "Sumner Simpson Papers" in 1977, exposing the corporate conspiracy among the major asbestos companies.

In the meantime, ACMs were installed in wallboard, floor and ceiling tiles, insulation, mastic and other building adhesives, asbestos concrete pipes, fire brick, and in HVAC and electrical systems. While most of this asbestos was in a solid, or non-friable state, these materials were prone to crumbling as they aged and deteriorated, releasing asbestos fibers into the building's air supply.

High-Risk Occupations

Many industrial workers have been exposed to asbestos fibers in the course of their jobs; according to Center For Health Statistics data, 3% of all work-related deaths occur from mesothelioma, a rare, highly aggressive and malignant form of asbestos cancer that attacks the pleural lining usually around the lung (causing pleural mesothelioma) but sometimes around the abdominal organs or the heart.

Interestingly, Rhode Island was the birthplace of the Industrial Age in North America; however, this was in the textile industry, which did not include asbestos fabrics. The economy of the state today is primarily service-oriented, although the state does have five power generation plants, as well as major port facilities.

Traditionally, power plant workers are among those who are at greatest risk for asbestos disease. Asbestos insulation was used in order to reduce the risk of fire. The machinery, such as boilers, turbines and generators, also contained asbestos insulation; fibers often were released into the air as this machinery aged.

Longshoremen and Navy Veterans are another group that was frequently exposed to asbestos, primarily aboard cargo ships. Asbestos was used extensively in sea-going vessels prior to 1980 in order to reduce fire risks. As these materials aged and deteriorated, however, friable fibers were released into the closed environment below decks. Medical research has shown that disease risk increases with concentration of fibers, making the below-deck areas a high-risk area for asbestos.

Rhode Island (RI) Job Sites At Risk From Asbestos Exposure:

Over the course of the last century, hundreds of thousands of workers were exposed to asbestos while on the job – and for the most part, they were not warned. Below is a list of Job sites covered on Asbestos.net from the state of Rhode Island (RI) where workers were potentially and unnecessarily put at risk:

Rhode Island (RI) Mesothelioma Lawyer & Legal Resources:

A search through the Rhode Island Federal District Court Cases for asbestos-related personal injury product liability lawsuits, focusing on mesothelioma lawsuits, brings up a list of three lawsuits from 2006 and 2007. Two of these cases (Brethour v. A.W. Chesterton Company et al and Campbell et al v. Buffalo Pumps Inc. et al) are notices of removal from asbestos litigation. The other case is Levitt v. Asarco Incorporated et al.

Rhode Island is ranked 39 in the U.S. for malignant mesothelioma cases. With a mesothelioma mortality rate of 17.74 per million, Rhode Island has a crude mortality rank of four in the country.

There are a number of key Rhode Island asbestos cases. One, Ruggieri v. Bethlehem Steel, involved a seaman who alleged that he was exposed to asbestos while on a Navy tanker, which led to a cancer. The jury brought a verdict in favor of the defense, a shipbuilder.

One key Rhode Island asbestos case was brought before the state's supreme court. In Fleet National Bank, Trustee v. 175 Post Road, LLC, AZA Realty Trust, a company that purchased real estate, appealed a Superior Court judgment concerning the obligations of the parties under a purchase and sale agreement. The Superior Court ruled that the seller's responsibility for asbestos abatement was limited to the terms contained in the parties' amended purchase and sale agreement. This case stemmed from AZA's purchase of commercial real estate that contained asbestos. AZA claimed that the parties committed a mutual mistake because the purchase and sale agreement did not reflect the scope of asbestos abatement that they had suggested in their original offer. The Superior Court ruled, and the Supreme Court affirmed, that any misunderstanding of the terms of the agreement by the buyer was the result of a unilateral mistake, rather than a mutual mistake or fraudulent misrepresentation, since the purchase and sale agreement was unambiguous and clearly specified the scope of asbestos remediation and moreover since the agreement was later amended to define the scope of asbestos abatement in more precise terms.

Another key Rhode Island asbestos case was Edward and Barbara Perusse v. AC and S, Inc. In this 2001 case, the defendant moved to have the plaintiff's personal injury case related to asbestos exposure dismissed due to lack of venue and the doctrine of forum non conveniens (which is where a court can decline to hear a case if one party to the case makes an adequate showing on the inconvenience of the case being heard there, even if the court is otherwise appropriate for the case). Since neither the Rhode Island Supreme Court nor the Rhode Island Legislature has formally recognized the doctrine of forum non conveniens, the court determined that the venue was proper and denied the defendant's motion to dismiss.

Those interested in filing a Rhode Island mesothelioma lawsuit, or a lawsuit related to any asbestos related condition, should know that the statute of limitations for personal injury law in Rhode Island is three 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. Becasue of this, it is important that those diagnosed contact a Rhode Island mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after discovering their diagnosis in order to make sure that all deadlines are met. Wrongful death cases follow the same statute of limitations with the standard discovery rule beginning at time of injury or death. There is no specific statute about asbestos in Rhode Island.

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