Neil Nazareth of Martzell, Bickford & Centola resolved a mesothelioma case for over 5 million dollars.  The Plaintiff was the daughter of a pipefitter who worked at various chemical plants and oil & gas facilities in and around New Orleans in the 1950's and 1960's.  As a pipefitter, her father was regularly exposed to asbestos at these facilities by handling asbestos pipe insulation directly and by working around insulators who were removing asbestos insulation or applying it to steam pipes, which was a dusty process.  The asbestos dust covered his work clothes, which he wore home after work.  As part of her chores as a child, his daughter helped wash the clothes, including her father's dusty work clothes, which she shook out before loading into the laundry.  She recalls seeing the dust in the air and having to breathe it in, not knowing it was dangerous.  In fact, none of the plants and facilities warned her father that asbestos was harmful or took any safety precautions to ensure he and his family would be safe from the asbestos at their facilities. 

Over 40 years later, the pipefitter's daughter developed mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the lining of the lung caused only by asbestos exposure.  The pathologist, a medical expert in the case, opined that it was the regular washing of her father's work clothes covered in asbestos dust that caused her mesothelioma.  After suffering for approximately 18 months and fighting to survive through numerous chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she died of her mesothelioma. 

Within 2 years, we were able to resolve the case for her family, which included a loving husband of 50 years and 5 children.  The total settlement obtained exceeds 5 million dollars.