As a 20-year old college student in the late 1960s, our client went to work at Norton Labs, a well-known plastic mold shop located on Mill Street in Lockport, New York. Norton Labs used large quantities of asbestos-containing plastic molding compounds to make hard plastic products for the automotive and electrical industries. At age seventy, our client was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. He contacted Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford to represent him in seeking damages against several companies responsible for the manufacture, distribution and sale of asbestos-containing products to Norton Labs. The case settled with all defendants for approximately $3.1 million.
It’s important to note that this was our client’s only known exposure to asbestos compounds. Working this summer job as a union janitor at Norton, his duties included sweeping and cleaning up dust, debris and flashing from the floors and mold shop machinery. Asbestos was used as filler in the molding compounds supplied to Norton Labs. Sweeping and cleaning dusty surfaces caused asbestos fibers to enter his breathing zone, inducing mesothelioma over four decades later. Workers were exposed to asbestos in all departments, including preforming, molding and finishing.
It is significant that while our client’s exposure to asbestos was relatively brief, the intensity of his exposure to this highly toxic substance ultimately caused him to develop mesothelioma.
He continues to battle mesothelioma and spends his time with family and friends.