Asbestos lawsuit filed by Natural Bridge family

April, 30 2007

A New York City based law firm filed suit today in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of the third member of a Natural Bridge to die from mesothelioma. Patrick Timmons, an attorney with Levy Phillips & Konigsburg, said the death was a statistical improbability for the asbestos related cancer in a town of less than 400 persons.

According to Timmons, Donald Lozo, who died in August 2005 at age 67, was exposed to asbestos from talc, as was his late sister, Catherine, and late mother, Mary who also died of mesothelioma. Court documents say Mr. Lozo worked for more than a decade at Carbola Talc Mine in Natural Bridge.

The suit was filed in Fifth Judicial District of the Supreme Court in Syracuse. According to the law firm the region’s asbestos litigation is consolidated in the Fifth Judicial District.

In a release to the media Levy Phillips & Konigsburg said a study in 2002 by the British Occupational Hygiene Society found Jefferson County to have the second highest mesothelioma death rate for females in the U.S. and the sixth highest for males.

The lawsuit names 76 defendants, including local, national and international businesses.

North Country businesses named in the suit include White’s Lumber, Inc., St. Regis Paper Company, Farney’s Home and Building Center, Gouverneur Talc Company, Inc and the current owner of the Carbola mine, IMI Fabi LLC.

Among the national companies named in the suit are Bechtel, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Georgia Pacific Corporation, Union Carbide and Viacom, Inc.

The Lozo estate is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to the full extent permitted under the law.

SOURCE: Clear Channel Communications published Apr 30, 2007