Lung cancer lawsuits: asbestos and workplace exposure claims

What a lung cancer claim is about

Lung cancer has more than one cause. For many people, part of the story is the work they did: years spent around asbestos insulation, dusty building materials, engine exhaust or industrial chemicals, often without being told what those materials could do to them.

Where a diagnosis is linked to exposure like that, a claim may be possible. This page explains, in plain English, how the link between work and lung cancer is understood by health authorities, which jobs were most affected, who can ask about a claim, and what a free case review involves. Graystone Legal publishes this information and can pass your request to a participating law firm.

How asbestos is linked to lung cancer

Asbestos is a group of minerals that were used for decades in insulation, fireproofing, cement products, floor and roof materials, textiles and vehicle parts. When asbestos-containing material is cut, sanded, drilled or damaged, it releases tiny fibres into the air.

The National Cancer Institute explains that breathing in those fibres can leave them trapped in the lungs, where over many years they cause scarring and inflammation that can lead to serious disease, including cancer. Asbestos is classified as a known human carcinogen by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the evidence is considered sufficient that asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma, and cancers of the larynx and ovary.

Risk rises with heavier and longer exposure. But asbestos-related disease has also appeared in people exposed only briefly, and the overall evidence points to there being no known safe level of exposure. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulates asbestos at work for exactly this reason.

One point matters for timing: the National Cancer Institute says it generally takes 10 to 40 years or more after exposure for symptoms of an asbestos-related condition to appear. A diagnosis today can come from work done in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s.

Other workplace and home exposures

Asbestos is not the only exposure linked to lung cancer.

• Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that seeps into buildings from the ground, is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States according to the EPA, and the leading cause among people who have never smoked.
• The National Cancer Institute's lung cancer prevention summary lists radon, occupational exposures including asbestos, and air pollution among the recognised risk factors for lung cancer, alongside tobacco smoke.
• Respirable crystalline silica — the dust from cutting concrete, stone, brick and countertops — is regulated by OSHA because of its link to lung disease, including lung cancer.
• Diesel exhaust is treated by OSHA as a workplace hazard with respiratory effects, and the agency publishes guidance on reducing exposure to it.

Jobs and industries where exposure was common

The National Cancer Institute names shipbuilding, asbestos mining and milling, the manufacture of asbestos textiles and other asbestos products, insulation work in construction and the building trades, demolition, drywall removal, asbestos abatement, firefighting and vehicle brake and clutch work among the trades with recognised asbestos exposure. It also notes that asbestos was used in brake shoes and clutch pads, and that although studies of mechanics are limited, the overall evidence still points to no safe level of exposure.

Military service is a large part of this picture. The US Department of Veterans Affairs says veterans may have been exposed to asbestos through mining and milling, shipyard work, insulation work, demolition of older buildings, carpentry and construction, and the manufacture or installation of flooring and roofing. The VA also notes that service members in Iraq and nearby countries could have been exposed when older buildings were damaged and asbestos was released into the air. Veterans with asbestos-related illness can apply for VA disability compensation, which the VA evaluates case by case.

Exposure did not always stop at the workplace gate. The National Cancer Institute explains that family members of heavily exposed workers have faced an increased risk of mesothelioma from fibres carried home on clothing, skin and hair — which is why federal workplace rules cover showering and separate storage of work clothes.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a different cancer from lung cancer, though the two are often discussed together because both are linked to asbestos.

The National Cancer Institute describes mesothelioma as a cancer of the mesothelium, the thin tissue lining the lung, chest wall and abdomen, and identifies asbestos exposure as the major risk factor. Most mesotheliomas are thought to be caused by asbestos exposure. The VA describes it as a rare cancer of the thin lining around the lung or of the abdominal cavity, usually caused by asbestos.

Mesothelioma follows the same long delay as other asbestos-related disease: 10 to 40 years or more between exposure and symptoms. If you or a family member has a mesothelioma diagnosis, it is worth asking about a claim even if the work happened a lifetime ago. This page covers mesothelioma claims as well as lung cancer claims, and the review is the same.

Who can ask about a claim

You do not need to work out whether you qualify before you get in touch. People who ask us for a review usually fall into one of these groups:

• someone diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma who worked around asbestos, dust, fumes or industrial chemicals
• a husband, wife, partner, parent or adult child asking on behalf of someone who is unwell
• a family member of someone who has died, asking whether a claim is still possible
• someone who was exposed at home through a relative's work clothes

Nothing in the short questionnaire on this page rules anyone out. A law firm decides whether a claim can be brought, and the answer depends on facts that take a conversation to establish.

Can smokers still ask about a claim?

Yes — ask. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, and we do not suggest otherwise. But asbestos exposure and smoking together are especially dangerous: the National Cancer Institute says the combination produces a lung cancer risk greater than the two risks simply added together. The Institute also notes that quitting smoking reduces lung cancer risk even in workers who have already been exposed to asbestos.

Whether a claim can be brought by someone who smoked is a legal question, not a medical one, and it is one of the things a law firm will look at with you.

Asbestos trust funds and lawsuits

Two routes are often discussed in asbestos cases, and they work differently.

Some claims are brought as lawsuits against companies that made or supplied asbestos products, or that were responsible for a workplace where exposure happened.

Other claims are paid from a trust. Many companies facing large numbers of asbestos injury claims went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation, the federal court process for restructuring a business. Section 524(g) of the US Bankruptcy Code allows such a company to set up a trust to pay current and future asbestos claimants, in exchange for a court order channelling those claims to the trust instead of the reorganised company. That is why a claim connected to a company that no longer exists may still be possible.

Which route applies depends on where and when the exposure happened, and which companies were involved. A law firm works that out; you do not have to.

Deadlines: why it is worth asking early

Time limits for bringing a claim are set state by state, and they are not the same everywhere. Because the limits differ and depend on details such as the date of diagnosis, the safest thing you can do is ask early rather than wait — delay is the most common reason a person loses the chance to bring a claim at all. A participating law firm can tell you which deadline applies to your situation.

What the free review involves

• You answer four short questions on this page: who was diagnosed, what the diagnosis was, roughly when, and whether there was work of the kind described above. Nothing you answer rules you out.
• You leave your name, mobile number, email and state, and choose a time of day that suits you.
• Our team calls you to go through what happened, at no cost. You are not committing to anything.
• If it looks like there may be a claim, we pass your request to a participating law firm, which contacts you and explains its terms in writing.

You decide at every step whether to carry on. Graystone Legal is paid by participating law firms when we pass on a request, which is how this information stays free to read.