A courtroom in Florida is the scene of the state’s first trial accusing a talc company of causing a man’s malignant mesothelioma.
Lawsuits accusing asbestos companies of causing people’s mesothelioma have been with us for decades, and have resulted in billions of dollars in compensation being awarded to the victims of asbestos exposure.
But a new phase of mesothelioma trials is being seen across the United States. People diagnosed with the rare and fatal form of cancer are now charging talc companies with the same level of negligence as asbestos companies have been accused of in the past, and are saying that these companies failed to warn of the presence of asbestos in their products.
The talc mesothelioma lawsuit has been filed by Robert Lord and his wife Lola. They claim that Vanderbilt Minerals LLC sold asbestos-contaminated talc products to his employer, Florida Tile Company, without providing adequate warnings about its presence.
The company’s attorneys are arguing that there is no scientific evidence that the company’s talc caused his illness and that the tissue samples submitted by Mr. Lord contained a kind of asbestos not found in their products.
The Florida talc mesothelioma case is different from others being heard around the country because it involves industrial talc exposure rather than exposure to asbestos-contaminated talc found in household or cosmetic products.
Instead, the talc that Mr. Lord was exposed to came from components of ceramics. Other industrial talc lawsuits could involve chemical coatings, paper and plastics. It is expected that this case will take approximately two to three weeks before a verdict is handed down.
The revelations of talc’s asbestos-contamination has created a sea-change in the public’s awareness of mesothelioma, the harm that it does, and the significant risk that it continues to pose.
If you have been diagnosed with this rare and fatal form of cancer and you need information about resources, call 1-800-692-8608 to speak to Mesothelioma.net’s compassionate Patient Advocates.
