Foseco manufactured asbestos foundry products supplied to steel mills and other industrial job sites. The company has faced thousands of asbestos lawsuits. Foseco hasn’t declared bankruptcy and has no asbestos trust fund, so asbestos lawsuits are ongoing.
With the help of experienced mesothelioma lawyers, patients and families have won court cases or negotiated settlement agreements with Foseco. Both lawsuits and settlements can help mesothelioma survivors obtain fair compensation for medical expenses and lost wages.
In some cases, juries have awarded compensation for pain and suffering, loss of companionship and even punitive damages against Foseco. There is no asbestos claim fund, so people with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases from Foseco products follow the traditional legal claims process. An experienced asbestos lawyer is invaluable for understanding how to file, what to do and when.
Unlike many asbestos companies, Foseco hasn’t declared bankruptcy. In 2008, global brand Vesuvius acquired Foseco for its foundry division, and the subsidiary generated more than $640 million in revenue in 2024.
Legal Help for People Exposed to Foseco Asbestos Products
Top asbestos law firms have decades of experience helping people with mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer file legal claims. Mesothelioma lawyers specialize in personal injury lawsuits, wrongful death cases and workers’ compensation claims against large companies like Foseco.
A Patient Advocate is another invaluable resource for mesothelioma survivors and their families. After receiving a mesothelioma diagnosis, many people are unsure of what to do next. Your Patient Advocate will match you with a lawyer who has a record of success securing mesothelioma compensation in cases like yours. They’ll also connect you with respected doctors offering the latest in treatment options, schedule your appointments, manage insurance navigation and help you file your VA benefits claims.
Your Patient Advocate will offer steady support throughout your cancer journey and will help you access all available resources. They’ll help you and your family ensure your emotional, nutritional, medical and legal needs are met.
Exposed to Asbestos at Foseco?
Gain access to trust funds, grants and other forms of compensation for you or your loved ones.
In Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court alone, Foseco has been named in more than 5,000 asbestos lawsuits. Many asbestos claims against Foseco come from the company’s former employees and their surviving family members.
Some asbestos lawsuits against Foseco also come from industrial workers who used the company’s products on the job. In these cases, Foseco often appears as a defendant alongside other companies involved in asbestos litigation, such as manufacturers of asbestos insulation.
Notable Foseco Cases
$38.9 million: A California jury awarded this amount in August 2013 to the daughters and great-grandson of Secundino Medina. Medina passed away from mesothelioma after working as an assembly line worker at a General Motors plant, regularly working with asbestos products.
$7.4 million: A jury in Cook County, Illinois, awarded this amount in March 2024 to Alonzo Cain, a brick mason who worked at Inland Steel for decades. Cain was exposed to Foseco’s asbestos products from 1965 to 1976, and developed mesothelioma in 2023.
Ongoing litigation: In December 2025, John and Dragana Damyanic filed a claim against Foseco and other asbestos product manufacturers in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This ongoing lawsuit involves product liability and negligence for asbestos exposure.
Most mesothelioma lawsuits are resolved through settlements. Reports suggest asbestos law firms have secured at least $13 million for the families of former Foseco workers through settlement agreements.
For example, in 2018 Utah resident Glenda Young’s lawyers negotiated a settlement agreement with Foseco and other asbestos manufacturers. The family had originally filed a wrongful death lawsuit for negligent product exposure. And in 2017, the lawsuit Thomas Gorton and his wife, Rhonda, against Foseco and other defendants became a wrongful death lawsuit with the help of her lawyers. Many of the defendants settled rather than go to trial.
Dangerous Goods: Foseco’s Connection to Asbestos
Eric Weiss founded Foseco, which stands for “Foundry Service Company,” in 1932. Foseco’s primary business is manufacturing products and providing services for the foundry industry.
From the beginning of its operations, many of its products used asbestos fibers. Some Foseco subsidiaries purchased asbestos fiber from the North American Asbestos Corporation. In 1964, one of the NAAC’s scientific advisors sent a safety letter to Foseco’s purchasing agent indicating asbestos exposure increased the risk of lung cancer. But Foseco kept using asbestos for more than a decade.
Key Facts About Foseco and Asbestos
Foseco used 18 million pounds of asbestos between 1961 and 1976 at its Cleveland manufacturing plant.
The company didn’t stop using asbestos until 1976, and only after receiving pushback from its customers and their insurance companies.
Some older homes with furnaces still have Foseco furnace brick linings, putting homeowners and maintenance technicians at risk of asbestos exposure.
In addition to ignoring warnings about asbestos health hazards, company leadership chose not to tell employees about the risks of developing mesothelioma or lung cancer. It wasn’t until violating new federal air quality standards in 1970 that Foseco finally installed vacuums for asbestos dust on the factory floor.
In 1972, three of Foseco’s largest customers expressed concern about the asbestos exposure levels in the company’s products. Foseco decided to mislead the steel mills, falsely claiming that the asbestos levels in its products weren’t high enough to be hazardous.
Foseco’s Asbestos Products
Foseco products were used in foundry melting shops, core shops and molding lines, often during the pouring stages of operations. Common asbestos products included furnace brick linings, flow control components, crucibles for molten metal processing and temperature measurement systems.
Foundry applications require high heat resistance. Asbestos was an effective and relatively inexpensive solution from the 1930s to the mid-1970s.
Foseco Asbestos-Containing Products
Core coatings
Die castings
Exothermic riser sleeves (Kalminex brand)
Ferrux hot topping compound
Furnace linings
Hot top insulation
Kalminex boards
Ladle liners
Molding sand
Permanent mold coatings
Profax boards
Proflex boards
The asbestos Foseco used during manufacturing arrived in 120-pound burlap sacks from South Africa. Laborers needed to empty the bags into stirring machines that mixed asbestos, water, silica flour, resins and old newspapers. The resulting slurry was used to coat casting cores for a variety of hollow castings, such as molds for engine blocks. The process repeatedly exposed both manufacturing workers and nearby personnel to asbestos dust and debris.
According to a 1968 Foseco patent application, the company’s exothermic hot tops used 4.9% amosite and 4.2% chrysotile asbestos. All types of asbestos cause cancer, but research suggests that amosite may cause mesothelioma at lower doses of exposure compared to chrysotile.
Who Was at Risk of Asbestos Exposure From Foseco?
Workers who produced, used or replaced Foseco hot tops and other asbestos products regularly faced occupational asbestos exposure at dangerous levels. Hot tops were necessary to line the inner surface of mold metal castings.
Occupations at Risk of Asbestos Exposure From Foseco Products
Laborers at Foseco manufacturing plants
Foundry workers
Steel mill workers
Metal workers
Industrial laborers
Boiler workers and maintenance technicians
Furnace workers
Foseco’s asbestos products were used extensively in industrial job sites and steel mills during and after World War II. From the 1950s to the 1970s, thousands of workers in the steel industry and similar jobs were exposed to toxic asbestos.
At foundries, laborers poured molten metal into molds to make castings. Not only did workers have to mix asbestos-containing materials in the stirring machines, but foundry laborers often wore fire-resistant protective clothing made with asbestos fibers.
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