Public and Commercial Buildings, Asbestos, and Your Legal Rights in Kentucky
Asbestos-containing products were critical and common parts of public and commercial buildings across Kentucky and the US for decades. If you worked to construct, maintain, or repair such a building, or were just employed in one and are diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer, you may have legal rights to compensation for what you’ve endured.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC attorneys represent those with asbestos-related diseases who seek compensation for the harm they’ve suffered. Call us at 502-589-5600 or toll-free at 855-385-9532 to learn more.
What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos is the name for a group of naturally occurring mineral fibers. They are microscopic in size yet incredibly strong and durable. What made them valuable in thousands of products over centuries is also their resistance to heat, fire, electricity, and chemicals.
Asbestos was also attractive to manufacturers because of its low cost and ready availability during its peak use in the US, from the Industrial Revolution through the early 1980s, when it was largely regulated off the market.
Why Is Asbestos Dangerous?
When asbestos-containing materials are disturbed (during installation, or when they’re cut, torn, drilled into, or removed), they release fibers into the air. Anyone in the area without sufficient safety gear could inhale or swallow those fibers without realizing it.
Once inside the body, the fibers become stuck in tissues and organs. The body’s immune system tries to destroy the fibers, but it fails. The fibers are too strong and durable. Scar tissue and inflammation result, which, over decades, cause genetic changes leading to many different kinds of cancer.
The diseases caused by asbestos exposure are life-altering and often fatal. Mesothelioma, a rare and fatal cancer, develops in the linings of the lungs, abdomen, or other organs and is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure. Other asbestos-related cancers include those of the lungs, larynx, and ovary. There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure.
Why Was Asbestos Used in Public and Commercial Buildings?
The combination of fire-resistance, thermal insulation, and low cost made asbestos a common material for commercial and public building construction during its peak use.
Building codes encouraged or required fireproofing measures that asbestos products provided. Architects specified them, engineers approved them, and contractors installed them in part because the full extent of asbestos’ dangers was suppressed by the industries that profited from it.
By the time the federal government caught up to the science showing asbestos’ lethal toxicity in the 1970s, asbestos in some form had been installed in virtually every commercial and public building.
Where Was Asbestos Used in These Buildings?
Asbestos-containing materials were installed in nearly every structural and mechanical system in public and commercial buildings through the early 1980s. The following are some of the more common uses in these buildings:
- Thermal insulation was put on pipes, boilers, and mechanical systems. Heating, ventilation, and plumbing systems ran throughout every floor of these buildings, and the insulation wrapped around them often used asbestos. If you worked as a maintenance technician, plumber, HVAC technician, or building engineer (or if you worked in or near mechanical rooms, utility corridors, or ceiling spaces), you may have been regularly exposed to asbestos
- Building codes required spray-on fireproofing for many years. It was routinely applied to structural steel beams, columns, and ceiling decks during the construction of commercial, government, and nonprofit buildings. This material was mixed with water, sprayed onto parts of a structure, and hardened into a textured coating. Over time, it dried out and could crumble or break apart, releasing asbestos fibers into the air
- Ceiling and floor tiles in office buildings, schools, hospitals, and stores were frequently made with asbestos. When tiles were cut, broken, drilled through, or aged and deteriorated, fibers could be released into the air
- Roofing materials, including shingles, felts, and mastics commonly contained asbestos. Roofers and building maintenance workers who repaired or replaced these materials on hospitals, schools, warehouses, and office complexes were exposed when these materials were cut, torn, or removed
- Asbestos-containing gaskets and packing materials were used in the valves, pumps, and mechanical systems found throughout commercial and institutional buildings. Maintenance and repair workers who serviced these systems were exposed when a gasket was cut or replaced
- Textured paints and joint compounds applied to walls and ceilings before the late 1970s frequently contained asbestos. Drywall workers, painters, and construction workers who sanded or scraped these surfaces could be heavily exposed
Those directly working with these products were exposed to asbestos, but anyone in the area where the work was done could inhale or ingest fibers released into the air.
What Types of Public and Commercial Buildings Were Affected?
People working in any capacity in these buildings could be exposed to asbestos if products containing it were used in them:
- Schools and universities
- Hospitals and medical facilities
- Office buildings and government facilities
- Retail stores and shopping centers
- Hotels, dormitories, and apartment buildings
- Courthouses, libraries, town halls, and other public buildings
- Churches and church halls
Specifically, some of the buildings in the area include the following:
- Covington: Cincinnati, Newport & Covington Light & Traction Company
- Lexington: University of Kentucky
- Louisville: Courier Journal Building, Jewish Hospital, Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, National City Power, Starks Building
- Various: Schools and hospitals
So many products contained asbestos, and they were used in so many ways, that it’s safe to assume that a public building built before the early 1980s probably had asbestos in it.
Who Was at Risk?
If asbestos fibers were liberated from products, they could float freely through the air. Employees, contractors, and visitors to these buildings could be exposed.
It didn’t end when workers left the building. If their clothes, hair, or skin had asbestos fibers on them at the end of the workday, they came into workers’ homes. Changing and laundering clothes could send cancer-causing fibers into the household, where anyone could swallow or inhale them.
What Are Your Legal Rights to Compensation Under Kentucky Law?
If you’re diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, Kentucky law protects those seeking compensation.
- Product liability law can hold manufacturers and suppliers responsible when the products they put up for sale are unreasonably dangerous and cause harm
- Negligence law can impose liability when those making, selling, and distributing hazardous products fail to provide adequate warnings or take steps to protect those who would use or encounter them
Kentucky’s statute of limitations for asbestos-related claims is one year. You generally have a year from the date of your diagnosis — or from the date you knew or reasonably should have known that your illness was connected to asbestos exposure — to file a legal compensation claim. This deadline is strictly enforced, so a lawsuit filed too late will likely be dismissed.
A civil lawsuit against the manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products may provide compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity, pain and suffering, and the impact your illness has had on your life. What may be available can far exceed what you may obtain through a workers’ compensation claim.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC Attorneys Represent Those Injured by Asbestos
We understand what a mesothelioma or cancer diagnosis means for a family. Fear, grief, financial anxiety, and anger are all justified feelings.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC lawyers have been the boots on the ground for thousands of individuals and families by representing them in asbestos injury and wrongful death cases.
To reach our Louisville office, call 502-589-5600 or toll-free at 855-385-9532. You may also complete our online contact form to schedule a free initial consultation. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.