Appeals court ruling reviving $40M courthouse-renovation asbestos suit will go to state's top court
Survivors of a woman who worked for 27 years at a Missouri courthouse before dying of mesothelioma settled her case against U.S. Engineering several years ago for a record $10.4 million.
But a related class-action is still ongoing. It seeks a $40 million medical monitoring for other former employees and jurors who served in long-running cases at the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City over a period of nearly three decades, during and after a renovation project that involved asbestos. The plaintiffs say asbestos was tracked throughout the building during a removal project handled by the company in the early 1980s, reports the Insurance Journal.
“There’s a whole lot of people, including me, who were down there and got the same exposure,” says plaintiffs’ attorney Lou Accurso. He says he himself was on the courthouse elevator with workers dusty from pipe-removal work while working for the county prosecutor’s office.
At issue in the medical-monitoring case, which was revived as a class action last month by the Missouri Court of Appeals, is whether U.S. Engineering’s removal of asbestos-wrapped air-handling systems left the courthouse contaminated. The plaintiffs say the courthouse ventilation systems weren’t shut down before workers cut into the asbestos. As a result, an asbestos-laden film settled throughout the building, according to the Kansas City Star and the Pitch.
Asbestos is a known human carcinogen, a National Cancer Institute fact sheet says.
The county and U.S. Engineering, however, say there’s no proof the courthouse was contaminated. A lawyer for the county says it will appeal the latest class-action ruling to the state supreme court. Attorney Jim Griffin is lead counsel for U.S. Engineering. He says the company is “evaluating all options for further appeal,” the Insurance Journal reports.
Related coverage:
Kansas City Business Journal: “Judge: No class certification in courthouse asbestos case”
See also:
St. Joseph News-Press: “Asbestos lawsuit settled for $10 million”
