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Illinois has various booming industries that historically used asbestos-containing materials for their fire-resistant and insulating characteristics. Manufacturing, agricultural, petroleum and timber industries were well-known for using asbestos-containing materials. Power plants were also known for using this dangerous substance.
Illinois received over 372,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from Libby, Montana. Various facilities processed this material in Chicago, Buda, Calumet City, Girard, Quincy and Peoria. Workers in oil refineries and power plants have an increased risk of developing diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis caused by asbestos exposure. Large oil companies like CITGO, Mobil, Amoco, Shell and Standard have previously been named as defendants in mesothelioma lawsuits and many have since setup trust funds to pay out future claimants. Large power plants where asbestos exposure could have included the Powerton Powerhouse, Zion Nuclear Power station and the Dresden Generating Station.
The Johns-Manville site is a noted asbestos hazard and superfund site. The disposal site covered more than 150 acres by Lake Michigan and Illinois Beach State Park. Approximately three million cubic yards of wastewater sludge contains asbestos and other known environmental hazards. Studies indicate that airborne asbestos is the greatest potential risk in the area. Although the site stopped operating in 1998, hazards still exist from the site.
Additionally, the former W.R. Grace & Company maintained a facility in West Chicago from 1974 to 1996. This facility was responsible from processing more than 273,000 tons of the contaminated asbestos. This location is another EPA superfund site. Additionally, many schools throughout Illinois include older school buildings with asbestos in them.
If you were diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact our law firm today to learn more about your legal rights.
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Illinois Asbestos Regulatory Agencies
Illinois Mesothelioma Diagnoses
Illinois Laws Concerning Asbestos
Illinois Statute Of Limitations
Illinois Asbestos Trust Funds
Illinois Mesothelioma Verdicts and Settlements
Illinois Asbestos Exposure Site List
Illinois Mesothelioma Law Firms
Illinois Mesothelioma Diagnoses
Reports show Illinois ranks 7th in the country for the incidence of mesothelioma and asbestosis fatalities. Between 1999 and 2015, at least 2,003 Illinois residents were diagnosed with mesothelioma. In particular, La Salle, McClean and Lake Counties ranked among the top 50 counties in the nation with the highest age-adjusted mesothelioma diagnoses for the years between 2000 and 2009. In addition to mesothelioma diagnoses, there were a minimum of 364 asbestosis diagnoses and 7,504 non-mesothelioma lung cancer diagnoses of Illinois residents from 1999 to 2013. The majority of cases are located in Chicago, Springfield, Aurora, Naperville, Waukegan, Champaign, and Peoria.
Illinois Asbestos Laws
Illinois has a number of important laws related to asbestos, including laws that impact what a plaintiff must prove in order to receive compensation, when a claim must be filed and how this dangerous material must be handled.
Court Exposure Standard
Asbestos cases are largely filed in state courts. These courts establish different standards that plaintiffs must meet in order to receive compensation for the damages that they sustained. Illinois uses the post popular court exposure standard for asbestos cases, the Lohrmann Test. This standard requires a plaintiff to establish that the defendant’s product was a substantial factor in the plaintiff developing mesothelioma or another asbestos-related condition. To meet the burden, the plaintiff must show the frequency, regularity and proximity to asbestos. It is not enough for a plaintiff to show that he or she had only minimal contact with the defendants’ asbestos product.
Statute of Limitations
Each state has a different statute of limitations for personal injury cases and wrongful death cases. In Illinois, mesothelioma victims have two years to bring their claim against the negligent defendant. It often takes decades for someone to learn that they have developed mesothelioma after they were first exposed to asbestos. Illinois incorporates a discovery rule to determine when this two-year time limit begins to tick. The statute of limitations in Illinois does not begin until the plaintiff knew or should have known that he or she had an asbestos-related disease and knew or should have known that the defendant was responsible for exposure to the asbestos-containing product. A two-year statute of limitations also applies to wrongful death cases.
Asbestos Disclosure
Illinois home sellers are required to disclose any damage to windows, doors or floors including contamination of any of these locations in the home. They must disclose if there are any dangerous concentrations of asbestos in their disclosure to the home buyer.
Illinois Definition of Asbestos
The Asbestos Abatement Act includes the following definitions related to asbestos:
- Asbestos – the asbestiform varieties of chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthrophyllite, and actinolite.
- Asbestos materials – materials formed by mixing asbestos fibers with other products, including but not limited to rock wool, plaster, cellulose, clay, vermiculite, perlite and a variety of adhesives, and which contain more than 1% asbestos by weight. Some of these materials may be sprayed on surfaces or applied to surfaces in the form of plaster or a textured paint.
Illinois Asbestos Regulatory Agencies and Regulations
The state regulatory agency responsible for asbestos is the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Asbestos Unit. Relevant contractors are required to provide notice at least 10 working days in advance of starting any regulated asbestos demolition or renovation project. There are strict guidelines that must be met for asbestos abatement, per the Asbestos Abatement Act. Additionally, public and private schools and commercial and public buildings are subject to additional regulations. The Cook County Department of Environmental Control requires an additional permit to ensure that safe abatement and asbestos removal procedures are followed.
Illinois Asbestos Site Exposure List
Illinois has many prevalent locations that contained or produced materials containing asbestos. Some sites linked to possible asbestos exposure include:
- R. Grace – Chicago
- Johns-Manville – Waukegan
- E. Staley Manufacturing Company – Decatur
- Primary and secondary schools – Cairo/Lincoln, Magnolia, Milton, Newman, Thebes
- Illinois Beach State Park
- Freeman Coal Company – Farmsville
- Kautt & Bux Manufacturing – Mundelein
- Kentile Floors, Inc. – Chicago
- Pittsburgh Plate Glass – Mt. Zion
- Grundy Industries, Inc. – Joilet
- Shell Oil Refinery – Wood River
- Alton Powerhouse – Alton
- Allied Metal Company – Chicago
- Armour Manufacturing Plant – Chicago
- B&O Railroad – Chicago
- Carnegie Steel – Chicago
- Chicago Chemical Plant – Chicago
- Chicago Nuclear Powerhouse – Chicago
- Container Paper Mill – Chicago
- Pure Oil Refinery – Chicago
- Standard Oil Refinery – Chicag
- United States Steel – Chicago
- Nuclear Power Station – Clinton
- E. Staley – Decatur
- Citizen’s Bank – Decatur
- Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
- American Zinc – East St. Louis
- Dow Chemical – East St. Louis
- Sinclair Refinery – Clark
- Peoria Power Plant – Peoria
- Edison Powerhouse – Springfield
- Springfield Powerhouse – Springfield
- State of Illinois Power Plant – Springfield
Illinois Asbestos Trust Funds
After certain companies were sued by multiple defendants due to asbestos exposure, they established asbestos trusts. These trusts provided funds to pay claimants for damages they sustained because of exposure to asbestos when the company was responsible for this exposure. Illinois has a few such trusts.
The Plibrico Asbestos Trust is the only known active trust for a company headquartered in Illinois. Pilbrico was headquartered in Chicago. It faced many lawsuits, mass tort actions and a lawsuit that included it and 49 other companies that used asbestos, leading to its bankruptcy filing in 2002. The company reemerged with a trust in 2006 which is responsible for processing all current and future claims against the company. The trust has estimated funds of $205.6 million
The M.H. Detrick Company Asbestos Trust is considered an inactive trust. The company made refractory heat enclosures and used asbestos in many of its insulation products. It was headquartered in Mokena, Illinois. The company filed bankruptcy in 1998. The trust was established in 2002 and had estimated funds of $3 million. It accepted claims from December 2010 to February 2011 and processed these claims on a first-come, first-served basis.
Another inactive trust is for a company headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, Forty-Eight Insulations. The Forty-Eight Insulations Qualified Settlement Trust was established in 1995 after the company filed bankruptcy a decade before with a ten-year reorganization plan. The company produced insultation products. The trust was originally funded with $39 million, but another $15 million was added for future asbestos settlements.
Illinois Asbestos Verdicts and Settlements
Madison County in Illinois is a leading jurisdiction for cases involving class action lawsuits and asbestos litigation. In the early 21st century, the county made adaptions that allowed its judicial system to speed up the process of resolving cases in less time. The county adopted a fast-tracking process allowed for terminal individuals. This process allows many mesothelioma victims to have their case heard within six months from filing the complaint. However, most asbestos cases are settled out of court before a trial. The following verdicts ranging from $1.5 Million to over $200 Million were obtained from the public news media and handled by unaffiliated law firms:
Some noticeable verdicts and settlements in the state of Illinois include:
- Over $200 million – 177 plaintiffs were part of trials in Cook County at the same time. The cases were settled for over $200 million.
- $35.1 million – A Madison County jury awarded more than $35.1 million to a roofer who had worked at Shell refineries in Wood River Illinois during the 1960s and 1960s. Asbestos was used without any warning to him or others. He developed malignant pleural mesothelioma and eventually died from it.
- $12.3 million – An insulator who died of mesothelioma was awarded compensatory damages of $12.3 million in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
- $4 million – A United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois awarded a Johns Manville plant worker who died from mesothelioma $4 million. The company later went bankrupt, but the verdict was paid to the family.
- $3.7 million – An Illinois HVAC worker was awarded $3.7 million.
- $3.5 million – The family of an electrician who died from mesothelioma shortly before his trial began was awarded $3.5 million in compensatory damages by the Cook County jury.
- $3.2 million – An Illinois steel worker was awarded $3.2 million in damages.
- $3 million – An insulator’s case in 1996 settled just after trial started in Cook County for $3 million.
- $3 million – An Illinois millwright worker received $3 million.
- $2 million – An Illinois powerhouse worker was awarded $2 million.
- $1.86 million – A 79-year-old Illinois worker was awarded nearly two million dollars.
- $1.5 million – A jury in Illinois awarded the spouse of a mesothelioma victim $1.5 million. The man had worked U.S. Steel where he was employed as an electrical maintenance worker between 1955 to 1985. The man worked on tasks that released asbestos from electrical wires and cables. He died of mesothelioma in 2009. The jury made the award in 2011. The case was later appealed, but the Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed the decision.
Illinois Mesothelioma Lawyers
Illinois is home to several local and national law firms that may serve as co-counsel on mesothelioma cases. Some options include:
A premiere law firm that is headquartered in Alton with an additional office in Chicago. A large team dedicated to helping with medical, discovery and bankruptcy aspects of the case. Attorneys travel to clients throughout Illinois.
A plaintiffs’ only law firm based in downtown Chicago. The firm consists of more than a dozen attorneys with extensive litigation experience. A primary focus of the firm is on asbestos litigation. The firm was responsible for some of the first asbestos cases in Illinois. The firm handles approximately 90% of mesothelioma cases in northern Illinois. The firm provides information, advice and legal assistance to mesothelioma victims throughout Illinois and the rest of the country. Attorneys throughout the country frequently co-counsel with the firm due to its extensive legal experience in this realm.
A law firm that provides legal assistance to mesothelioma victims in Cook County and across the state. The firm has more than a dozen attorneys with combined legal and medical experience of legal and medical expertise to the table.
A mesothelioma focused law firm in Chicago with a team of 27 partners, senior associates and associates who dedicate their practice to personal injury cases, including mesothelioma and asbestos litigation. They also have over 100 members of their support staff. The firm is considered one of the largest personal injury and workers’ compensation law firm in Illinois.
