Texas - A Houston area couple has filed a lawsuit against Union Carbide and other chemical and polymer companies, claiming that pulmonary cancer suffered by the man was caused by years of asbestos exposure.

The couple is Clyde and Robbie Dempsey, of Pasadena. Their lawsuit alleges that the defendants-including Union Carbide-committed acts of misrepresentation, negligence, and conspiracy.

The suit claims that Clyde Dempsey was exposed to asbestos and other hazardous products while working for twenty-five years as a commercial and industrial plumber and pipefitter in Texas.

Occupational asbestos exposure was tragically common in the twentieth century. Many companies that employed asbestos workers did not provide safety equipment to prevent exposure. Hundreds of thousands of people have died or will die from asbestos-relocated diseases such as mesothelioma cancers or asbestos. Billions of dollars worth of lawsuits have already been won or settled over the past several decades, with many more to come.

Clyde and Robbie Dempsey have named several defendants that they believe have contributed to the development of Clyde Dempsey’s mesothelioma. In addition to Union Carbide, the suit names Amaco, A.W. Chesterton, Avco, Bechtel, Bondex, Certainteed, Fluor, GE, Georgia Pacific, Kaiser Gypsum, Kelly-Moore Paint Co., Shell and Sun Oil and others. The companies are named variously as product, premises, equipment, or contractor defendants.

Clyde Dempsey spoke with the Texas Medical Occupation Institute in February, and said that he had breathed in clouds of asbestos dust that were created and dispersed not by him, but by people he worked adjacent to. He claims that he suffered occupational exposure to asbestos for at least twenty years.

Clyde Dempsey retired in 2004, and in 2007 told doctors he had been suffered from increased shortness of breath. He was subsequently diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The lawsuit filed by the Dempseys says that “As a result of Mr. Dempsey’s exposure to asbestos-containing products over his career, he contracted the serious and debilitating disease which will some day take his life. Each Defendant bears responsibility in causing Plaintiffs’ injuries in the individual capacities in which they have been sued.”

The suit also claims that “as a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ negligence, Mr. Dempsey has sustained a multitude of severe and incapacitating injuries.”

The Dempseys are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The suit indicates that Robbie Dempsey will continue with litigation if Clyde Dempsey should die before the suit is resolved.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Litigation, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.