October 14, 2011 – Louisiana mesothelioma attorneys from the nationally acclaimed law firm of Levy Konigsberg LLP have filed mesothelioma lawsuits on behalf of several Westbank area residents who were exposed to asbestos produced at the Johns-Manville facility in Marrero, LA. This plant manufactured asbestos pipes, and used both crocidolite and amosite asbestos, two varieties of amphibole asbestos.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, October 14, 2011 – Louisiana mesothelioma attorneys from the nationally acclaimed law firm of Levy Konigsberg LLP have filed mesothelioma lawsuits on behalf of several Westbank area residents who were exposed to asbestos produced at the Johns-Manville facility in Marrero, LA. This plant manufactured asbestos pipes, and used both crocidolite and amosite asbestos, two varieties of amphibole asbestos.
Many former Johns-Manville employees were directly exposed to asbestos while employed at the Marrero plant. In addition, family members of these employees were exposed to asbestos by breathing in asbestos fibers that settled on the employees’ clothing. Exposure to these fibers resulted from everyday tasks, such as riding in the same vehicle the employee used to travel back and forth from the plant, or simply by handling their clothes while laundering them. Additionally, countless other Westbank residents, many of whom were not Johns-Manville employees or family members of employees, were exposed to Johns-Manville asbestos. As a result, hundreds of these innocent people were later diagnosed with various asbestos-related diseases, including terminal cancer, called mesothelioma, as well as lung cancer and asbestosis.
For many years, Johns-Manville distributed asbestos scrap material to area homeowners and schools for use as a paving material. The scrap, in many cases, was used on driveways and yards in place of blacktop or concrete. The material largely consisted of waste from the facility and contained high amounts of crocidolite and amosite asbestos. When cars drove over the scrap material, or when children played on it, the scrap material was disturbed and dust clouds were created. These disturbances caused the asbestos in the scrap material to become airborne. This material was used throughout the Westbank, in communities such as Algiers, Bridge City, Gretna, Harvey, Marrero, and Westwego.
In the early 1990s, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) tested samples of the scrap material. Their samples showed a high asbestos concentration, and as a result, the EPA began removing this material from each and every known contaminated site. Throughout the 1990s, the EPA removed asbestos scrap material from over 1,400 properties on the Westbank. Unfortunately, the EPA was only able to remove asbestos scrap material from the sites that were reported to the agency. Countless other contaminated sites remain undetected.
According to a Levy Konigsberg spokesperson, “The pervasiveness of this harmful asbestos material on the New Orleans Westbank area is truly shocking. Area residents, believing they were filling their driveways and yards with harmless scrap material, were actually being exposed to toxic asbestos fibers on a daily basis. The filing of these cases is an important step forward in holding accountable those responsible for this tragedy.”
For over a quarter of a century, mesothelioma lawyers at Levy Konigsberg LLP have been among the pioneers of asbestos litigation in America. The firm’s attorneys have been recognized as nationwide leaders in representing the rights of mesothelioma victims and their families. Their clients have received some of the largest mesothelioma compensation verdicts in the country.
For more information about this or other mesothelioma lawsuits, please contact Levy Konigsberg LLP at (800) 315-3806 or 1-800-MESO-LAW (1-800-637-6529), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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