Asbestos Exposure in Kentucky’s Tobacco Industry
Kentucky’s tobacco industry defined the state’s identity and economy for generations. Thousands of workers in factories devoted their careers to creating products made from tobacco grown on the state’s farms. For decades, part of their working conditions was cancer-causing asbestos fibers floating through the air, which sickened and killed many employees decades later.
If you or someone you love is diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, or another asbestos-related disease after working at a Kentucky tobacco product factory (or after being exposed to asbestos because you lived with someone who did), you may be entitled to compensation for what you’ve endured. Call Satterley & Kelley, PLLC at (855) 385-9532 to learn more.
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a mineral fiber used for centuries in thousands of products. It’s light, strong, and durable, and these fibers are microscopically small. Asbestos is resistant to heat, fire, electricity, and chemicals. During its peak use from the Industrial Revolution through the 1970s, it was also cheap and readily available.
Why is Asbestos Hazardous?
Fibers become airborne when the products they’re in are installed, cut, torn, drilled into, removed, or replaced. This happened during equipment maintenance, repair, or replacement. Asbestos fibers could also come loose as products age and deteriorate, or as the equipment they are applied to shakes or vibrates during operation.
Asbestos fibers could be swallowed or inhaled by those working directly with these products or anyone in the area. The fibers become stuck in tissue and organs.
Because these fibers are so durable, the body’s immune response to remove or destroy them fails. This starts a decades-long process of scar tissue, inflammation, and genetic mutations that cause the development of many types of cancer, including mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Why Did the Tobacco Industry Use Asbestos?
Many of these factories were powered by high-pressure steam generated in massive boilers and distributed throughout facilities in pipes. Extremely high heat generated steam, so boilers and related equipment had to be insulated to keep them operating and protect nearby workers. Steam pipes were also incredibly hot, so they were also insulated with asbestos.
Machinery and pipes may also have used asbestos-containing gaskets and packing materials. Floor tiles and the mastics holding them in place, as well as ceiling tiles, may have contained asbestos. Electrical equipment and wires were also insulated with asbestos.
Workers in nearly every trade, including pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians, laborers, and maintenance personnel, were at risk. Even workers who didn’t directly handle asbestos materials could be exposed because they worked in buildings where asbestos was used, and fibers floated freely through the air.
Was Exposure Limited to the Workplace?
Workers spent their shifts working directly with asbestos-containing products or in spaces where fibers drifted through the air. Fibers ended up not only in workers after they were inhaled or swallowed, but also on their clothes, skin, and hair.
When they returned from work, fibers spread through their homes after workers washed, changed, and laundered their clothes. Asbestos-related diseases aren’t limited to plant workers. People living with them have also developed conditions like mesothelioma.
Where Were Kentucky Tobacco Facilities That Used Asbestos?
Asbestos-containing products were in tobacco manufacturing facilities, paper mills, and related industrial plants across Kentucky and the region. They include the following:
- Burnside: Cumberland Charcoal Company
- Hawesville: Willamette Industries / Willamette Paper Mill
- Lexington: Lexington Roller Mills; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; Southwestern Tobacco
- Louisville: American Tobacco; Brown & Williamson; P. Lorillard Tobacco Company; Philip Morris
- Maysville: Parker Tobacco
- Wickliffe/Versailles: Westvaco/MeadWestvaco Paper Mill
If you worked at a facility that’s not listed or at a plant located outside of Kentucky, Satterley & Kelley, PLLC attorneys have investigated and handled asbestos claims throughout Kentucky and the surrounding states.
What are My Legal Rights to Compensation Due to Injuries Caused by Asbestos?
Kentucky provides legal remedies for workers and family members who develop mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases as a result of workplace or take-home asbestos exposure.
Two areas of law that help asbestos victims pursue those who manufactured and sold asbestos-containing products are product liability and negligence:
- Product liability law can hold a party responsible for the harm they cause when a product they make or sell is dangerous and harmful when it’s used as intended, or they fail to include sufficient instructions or warnings
- Negligence law can impose liability if a party selling a product fails to take sufficient precautions to ensure its safety, or if it knows the product is hazardous but continues to sell it, or at least fails to issue sufficient warnings and instructions for its safe use
Under Kentucky law, asbestos injury claims are generally subject to a one-year statute of limitations. It starts from the date of diagnosis or the date you knew, or reasonably should have known, that your illness was linked to asbestos exposure.
Kentucky courts strictly enforce this deadline. Missing it will result in your claims being dismissed, and you will not obtain compensation for your injuries.
A worker’s compensation claim against a former employer may be an option, but the benefits are limited and often fall far short of compensating workers and families for the full financial, emotional, and physical harm an asbestos-related disease inflicts.
A civil lawsuit against the manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products may result in a far broader range of compensation, including for pain and suffering, lost wages and earning capacity, medical expenses, and the impact on your family’s quality of life.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC Attorneys Are Here to Help
A diagnosis of mesothelioma or another asbestos-related cancer is devastating. We understand what you and your family are going through because we have stood with thousands of Kentucky families facing the same situation.
We have decades of experience handling asbestos injury and wrongful death cases. Our lawyers know the tobacco factories and industrial facilities, the products that caused the harm, and the companies that put them in the workplaces and endangered employees.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC takes asbestos injury cases on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. There are no upfront costs and no fees unless you receive a negotiated settlement or a jury decides to award you damages.
To speak with a Kentucky asbestos attorney, call our Louisville office at 502-589-5600 or toll-free at 855-385-9532. You may also complete our online contact form to schedule a free initial consultation. Don’t wait. The time you have to act is limited.