Mesothelioma Lawsuits

The first mesothelioma lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers were in 1929. Ever since, many lawsuits have been filed against asbestos manufacturers and employers, for neglecting to employ safety measures after the links between asbestos, asbestosis, and malignant mesothelioma became known (some reports seem to place this as early as 1898).

The responsibility resulting from the sheer number of mesothelioma lawsuits and people affected has reached billions of dollars. The amounts and method of allocating compensation have been the foundation of many court cases, and government attempts at resolution of existing and future cases.

The parties settled that mesothelioma lawsuit, and as part of the agreement, the attorneys arranged not to pursue further cases. It was not until 1960 that an article published by Wagner et al first officially recognized mesothelioma as a disease arising from exposure to crocidolite asbestos.

The article referred to over 30 case studies of people who had suffered from malignant mesothelioma in South Africa. Some asbestos exposures were brief and some were mine workers. In 1962 McNulty reported the first diagnosed case of malignant mesothelioma in an Australian asbestos worker. The worker had worked in the mill at the asbestos mine in Wittenoom from 1948 to 1950.

In the town of Wittenoom, a mine containing asbestos waste was used to cover up schoolyards and playgrounds. In 1965 an article in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine recognized that people who lived in the neighborhoods of asbestos factories and mines, but did not work in them, had acquired mesothelioma.

Despite proof that the dust related with asbestos mining and milling causes asbestos disease, mining began at Wittenoom in 1943 and continued until 1966. In 1974 the first public warnings of the dangers of blue asbestos were published in a cover story called "Is this Killer in Your Home?" in Australia's Bulletin magazine. In 1978 the Western Australian Government decided to phase out the town of Wittenoom, following the publication of a Health Dept. booklet, "The Health Hazard at Wittenoom", containing the results of air sampling and an assessment of worldwide medical information.

By 1979 the first writes for negligence associated to Wittenoom were issued against CSR and its subsidiary ABA, and the Asbestos Diseases Society was created to represent the Wittenoom victims.