Asbestos Exposure at GE Appliance Park in Louisville, KY
For decades, people who worked at GE Appliance Park were exposed to asbestos, and their families also encountered asbestos through secondary exposure. Many of these employees and their family members developed mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer as a result of their exposure.
If you or a loved one developed one of these diseases due to your employment at GE Appliance Park, you have a right to justice and compensation. To get help now, contact us at Satterley & Kelley, PLLC today.
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is the term for six naturally occurring mineral fibers. They can be separated into thin, durable threads and incorporated into about 3,000 products that were produced since ancient Greece. Asbestos is resistant to heat, fire, chemicals, and electricity.
Why is Asbestos Hazardous?
You may have been exposed to asbestos at home, in your workplace, or in the community. If a product containing asbestos is disturbed, tiny asbestos fibers are released into the air. They can be inhaled or swallowed, enter the body, and be trapped in the lungs and other organs. These fibers cause scarring and inflammation, which can lead to cancer years or decades after initial exposure.
One cancer type that asbestos can cause is mesothelioma. It’s a rare and deadly cancer of the lining of the lungs, heart, abdominal organs, chest, and abdominal cavities.
GE Appliance Park
Located in Louisville, KY, Appliance Park is GE’s largest operation center in the world. Established in 1951, the facility spans over 750 acres, and at one point, it was the largest employer in Louisville. Everyone who lived in this area knew several people who worked at the plant, and at the time of writing, the plant still has approximately 8,500 employees. This GE plant produced refrigerators, ovens, stoves, furnaces, microwaves, and other GE products.
(General Electric sign. Photo by Chuck Miller via Flickr)
Asbestos During the Construction of Appliance Park
When this plant was originally being constructed, asbestos was the most popular insulator in the construction industry, and it was used heavily throughout the facility. There were miles of asbestos insulation throughout the park’s warehouses, manufacturing sites, and offices.
Asbestos was used to insulate wire, pipes, ceilings, and walls. The fire brick and other refractory materials that lined the facility’s furnaces also contained asbestos. As a result, anyone who was involved in the construction of the facility was likely exposed to asbestos.
Over the years, when millwrights came in to demolish and reinstall conveyor belts and furnaces, they were exposed to asbestos. Maintenance crews, electricians, and pipe fitters were also exposed when they did repairs or maintenance.
Decades after construction, employees on the assembly line reported that asbestos-laden insulation materials often fell out of the ceiling onto them as they were working.
Asbestos Exposure During Site Operations
It wasn’t just the building and equipment that contained asbestos. In many cases, employees were exposed when they manufactured GE appliances. GE used asbestos-lined wires in its appliances. The company also insulated refrigerators with asbestos and made certain plastic parts from asbestos-containing phenolic compounds.
The people who dealt with the compounds were exposed to asbestos when they poured the compounds into hoppers, dealt with plastic pucks, loaded molds, and finished the parts through sanding. Additionally, as this was very dusty work, the cleaners were exposed, and if they used compressed air to remove dust from an area, it spread into other areas, exposing even more people.
Timeline for Legal Action
If you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis due to exposure at GE Appliance Park or any other facility, you need to act quickly. In Kentucky, you have a year from the date of diagnosis (date of discovery) to file a lawsuit.
To file a suit on behalf of a family member who has died, you typically have one year from the date the estate was created but no more than two years from the date of death. In all cases, the courts are very strict about these deadlines. If you file even a day late, they won’t let the suit move forward. However, if you’re near the deadline, you should still reach out for help — an experienced attorney can help you file a lawsuit quickly.
Unfortunately, as a former employee of GE Appliance Park, you cannot bring a lawsuit against this company due to Kentucky’s workers’ compensation rules. However, you may be able to bring a lawsuit against another company — for example, the manufacturer of the phenolic molding compounds that exposed you to asbestos. When you work with an experienced attorney, they will be able to help guide you in the right direction.
Choosing an Asbestos Litigation Attorney
Mesothelioma treatment is extremely expensive and emotionally grueling. When you get a diagnosis, you need to be able to focus on your medical care, and that means you need an attorney who can take the reins and handle your case.
To ensure that happens, look for an attorney who has experience with asbestos-related litigation in your state. If possible, try to choose an attorney who has handled lawsuits related to your exposure site.
Contact Satterley & Kelley, PLLC Today
At Satterley & Kelley, PLLC, we have over 30 years of collective experience with asbestos litigation. We have worked with clients who were employed at GE Appliance Park as well as family members of these employees.
When you work with us, you get an empathetic partner to handle your legal case, but you also get a team of attorneys who understand the risks at this exposure site. We know about GE’s history as a manufacturer. We’re also familiar with the contractors, engineers, and architects who put asbestos into the building, and we know the manufacturers and suppliers of the asbestos-containing molding compounds. Don’t wait, contact us for a consultation today.