Second-Hand Exposure to Asbestos Can Cause Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, and More

It has long been known that exposure to asbestos can lead to significant and deadly illnesses, including malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis. But a case that is moving through the Louisiana court system makes clear that you don’t have to work directly with the deadly carcinogenic material for it to claim your life. 

Laundering Husband’s Asbestos-Contaminated Work Clothes Blamed for Deadly Illness

Mesothelioma is not the only deadly disease that has been linked to exposure to asbestos. Many victims die of asbestos-related lung cancer, and others find themselves debilitated by chronic diseases, including COPD and asbestosis. The Louisiana courts recently heard the case of Joyce Allen, who died of asbestos-related lung cancer after years of laundering her husband’s asbestos-contaminated work clothes.

A lawsuit filed by her husband Odell claims that he worked in an environment that was so heavily contaminated with asbestos that he would protect the seat of his truck with a sheet when he returned home from work. His wife Joyce would then launder both his clothing and the sheet, and unfortunately that – and the overall contamination created within their household over the years – led to her eventual death.

Asbestos Companies Deny Role in Woman’s Second-Hand Exposure Death

Mr. Allen worked as a freight handler and longshoreman between 1968 and 1983, and he too suffered from an asbestos-related disease after his years of exposure. He filed a wrongful death and survival action against several of the companies that he worked for and whose products he worked with. He also named the insurance companies that insured his employers, and several of the named companies filed a motion to have the case against them dismissed. 

Upon hearing expert witness testimony regarding the risk posed by second-hand asbestos exposure, a lower court denied the companies’ motion to dismiss the case, and a court of appeals upheld that decision. Both agreed that there was sufficient evidence to support the case moving forward for a jury to hear.