Porter Hayden Company
The Porter Hayden Company was formed in 1966 as the result of a merger between H.W. Porter & Co. Inc. of New Jersey and Reid Hayden Inc. of Maryland. The two companies had been selling and installing insulation in industrial facilities along the mid-Atlantic region since the 1920s, and Porter Hayden continued this work until the 1970s. Unfortunately, the insulation installed by Porter Hayden contained asbestos, which exposed thousands of workers and installers to the hazardous substance.
Porter Hayden was known to have delivered and installed asbestos-containing installation at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point, Maryland, as well as at industrial and construction sites in the following states, as well as others:
- New Jersey
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Delaware
- New York
- Pennsylvania
Porter Hayden and Asbestos
Until the mid-1970s when the federal government began regulating the use of asbestos in the workplace, much of the insulation shipped and installed by the Porter Hayden Company and used in steel mills and other industrial plants contained asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral conclusively linked to the development of debilitating diseases such as asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma.
Although Porter Hayden was a distributor rather than a manufacturer of asbestos-containing products, the company can still be held liable for the harmful effects caused by asbestos exposure in the facilities where insulation was installed. Additionally, insulation installers who worked for Porter Hayden were continuously exposed to asbestos, especially if they were involved with the cutting, sawing or grinding of asbestos insulation materials. Such processes had a tendency to release large clouds of asbestos-containing dust into the air, which could pose a serious health hazard if inhaled by workers nearby. If Porter Hayden employees inhaled this dust, microscopic asbestos fibers could have been embedded in delicate lung tissue, which increases the risk of developing asbestos-related diseases in the future.
Porter Hayden and Asbestos Litigation
In August 1976, the first asbestos-related claim against Porter Hayden was filed. Decades later, Porter Hayden filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2002, as the company faced more than 58,000 lawsuits from jurisdictions up and down the Atlantic coast. One of the conditions for the company's re-emergence from bankruptcy in 2007 was the establishment of the Porter Hayden Bodily Injury Trust to settle asbestos-related claims for medical conditions such as malignant mesothelioma.
Cases Against Porter Hayden
The 1999 case of Kazimierz Lapka and Emilia Lapka v. Porter Hayden Company, et al. is an example of why it is important to file an asbestos-related claim against an employer in a timely fashion. From 1967 to 1984, Kazimierz Lapka was employed as a chemical operator and hot melt operator at the Essex Chemical Corporation in Sayreville, Pennsylvania. One of Lapka's duties involved the mixing of pigments with powdered asbestos.
In 1981, chest X-rays revealed pleural thickening (a condition described here) and other suspicious changes in his lungs. Lapka's physician diagnosed him with emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis soon after, and though Lapka was moved to a position that did not require him to work actively with asbestos, he continued to experience chronic shortness of breath. In 1984 he was diagnosed with asbestosis and was hospitalized multiple times until his death 12 years later.
Locating Help for Asbestos-Related Conditions
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease as a result of working for the Porter Hayden Company or working in a facility with insulation installed by the Porter Hayden Company, contact a Patient Advocate by calling (800) 615-2270 or by filling out the form on this page. A Patient Advocate can help you find out where you may have been exposed to asbestos and how to find top mesothelioma specialists in your area.
-
05/18/2012 -
The Queen of Disco Donna Summer died on Thursday in her Naples, Florida, home after a quiet battle with lung cancer.
She was 63.
The five-time G ..
-
05/17/2012 -
Thoracic surgeon Robert Cameron, M.D., used his second annual Symposium for Lung-Sparing Therapies for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma last week in Los ..
-
05/17/2012 -
Researchers in Singapore have uncovered new technology for studying cancer stem cells that could spark quicker development of a more effective therapy ..
© 2012 The Mesothelioma Center |
Last Modified Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
The information provided by The Mesothelioma Center is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Sponsored by a law firm concentrating in asbestos litigation, The Peterson Firm, LLP with offices at 1350 Connecticut Ave, NW, Fifth Floor, Washington DC 20036.
