Last year, a notice of settlement ended litigation between Hess Corporation and plaintiffs diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. The agreement provided payment of $187 million to 911 victims with pending claims against the company’s Limetree Bay refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands. With that settlement precluding any additional victims’ claims, the widow of a refinery worker who died of metastatic lung cancer related to asbestos has filed a civil complaint against Virgin Islands Industrial Maintenance Corporation, a now-dissolved labor broker that provided Hess with its St. Croix workers.
Hess Refinery in St. Croix Blamed for Multiple Mesothelioma Deaths
While the previous settlement resolved 911 outstanding claims against Hess and its bankrupt unit HONX, former refinery workers continue to be diagnosed with mesothelioma and other illnesses, so lawsuits continue to be filed against those responsible for victims’ asbestos exposure. Among them is a claim filed by Jeanne Leroy David’s widow, who blames her husband’s lung cancer on exposure to asbestos at the St. Croix refinery.
According to the complaint, Mr. David worked at the refinery from the late 1980s through the early 1990s. At that time, it was owned by HOVIC, a Virgin Islands corporation that later transitioned management of the refinery to Hovensa. Both companies obtained laborers from Virgin Islands Industrial Maintenance Corporation (IMC) and other labor brokers. Mr. David worked for IMC, and his widow’s claim accuses the company of providing him with substandard respiratory protection that was “wholly inadequate to guard against the inhalation of toxic substances.”
Refinery Environment Linked to Multiple Cases of Mesothelioma and Other Illnesses
Like many of the mesothelioma lawsuits that were previously filed, the widow’s lawsuit cites substandard conditions at the refinery that fell well below occupational health and safety regulations. The result for Mr. David was years of painful treatments to try to prolong his life.
Mr. David’s widow and daughter’s wrongful death lawsuit seeks punitive and other damages for IMC’s failure to protect its workers from the effects of exposure to asbestos at the facility, and for having “failed to adopt timely and adequate occupational safety and health policies and procedures regarding the appropriate use, handling, and manipulation of these toxic substances.”
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you need advice, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net at 1-800-692-8608.
