City of Albuquerque Sues Over Allegedly Negligent Asbestos Removal
A cautionary tale for anyone in construction: asbestos abatement company alleged to have ignored potential asbestos hazards.
The December 2024 filing is the latest chapter of a legal drama that began when a contractor allegedly botched an asbestos removal job at an area homeless shelter.
The city filed its lawsuit Thursday, saying it shouldn’t be held responsible for the problems caused by the contractor they hired. After asbestos problems were exposed inside the Gibson Health Hub last year, the city hired Consolidated Builders of New Mexico, LLC to demolish parts of the 70-year-old building.
Since February, the city has been named in three different lawsuits. In two of these actions, roughly a dozen individuals said they were exposed to asbestos at Albuquerque’s Gateway Center homeless shelter project. A third action asserts that the city retaliated against workers who cooperated with state workplace investigators. The contractor is legally responsible for damages in these cases, according to the City’s lawyers.
“Just looking at the materials and everything that they were working with, any human being with any knowledge in the construction industry would have questioned whether or not it would be safe to work on this until you found out whether it did contain asbestos. They did not do that,” one plaintiffs’ attorney remarked.
Mostly because so much money is involved (the average mesothelioma settlement exceeds $1 million per victim), asbestos exposure lawsuits are very complex. Frequently, this complexity has nothing to do with asbestos exposure.
Joint and several liability, the issue in the above story, is one such complexity. Poisonous asbestos was part of a supply chain. A mining company dug the mineral out of the ground, a processing company refined it, a manufacturing company sold it, and a builder used it. Any one of these entities could be on the hook for damages, and no one wants to be the last person standing when the music stops.nc
Sometimes, this procedural complexity doesn’t affect victims. Usually, it doesn’t matter who writes the check, as long as the check says “Pay to the Order of The Victim.” However, in some states, if an asbestos exposure lawyer doesn’t identify the property responsible party, the judge could throw the case out of court. If that happens, the statute of limitations could expire before a lawyer has a chance to reset. More on that below.
Joint and several liability is Legalese for finger-pointing. Most states have modified joint and several liability laws. One defendant can file a claim against another defendant, which is what happened in the above story, and avoid writing that big check while the victim largely sits on the sidelines. Some states have similar “shoot first and ask questions later” laws which relieve the plaintiff of any burden in this area.
However, some states have pure several liability laws. Generally, defendants are only responsible for part of the settlement. If an asbestos exposure lawyer sues Defendant A, which is only 30 percent responsible for damages, the victim gets 30 percent of the requested damages. Ouch.
Damages are very high in asbestos exposure cases partially because asbestos exposure illnesses, such as mesothelioma, are so terrible. The average mesothelioma patient dies within two years of diagnosis. Mesothelioma is so painful, and these victims are so fragile, that it’s usually a very bad two years for everyone.
The statute of limitations is a greater concern for asbestos exposure lawyers, Once the SOL expires, the victim loses the right to obtain compensation for injuries.
Generally, the SOL in a personal injury case is two years. Under the delayed discovery rule, the countdown begins when the victim knows about, or reasonably should know about, the injury. If Mike was exposed to asbestos in 1970 and he’s diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2025, he has until 2027 to file a legal action.
Some states have a hard statute of repose. If a construction defect, like asbestos used, caused injury, the victim cannot file suit a certain number of years (usually about ten) following construction.
So, if Mike lived in a statute of repose state, unless his asbestos exposure lawyer overturns the limitation, he must file another kind of claim, probably Social Security Disability Insurance or a bankruptcy victim compensation fund claim.
If the claim survives the aforementioned procedural hurdles, and any others that may apply, the case proceeds to substantive issues, mostly a solid medical diagnosis, a connection between the diagnosis and the defendant’s conduct (or misconduct), and the defendant’s negligence (lack of care).
Obtaining a good medical diagnosis isn’t as easy as it sounds. The cancer misdiagnosis rate is extremely high. Misdiagnosis is common, especially for rare cancers like mesothelioma. A general practice doctor’s diagnosis is easily refuted by a defense expert’s different diagnosis.
Misdiagnosis could have real life implications as well. If a doctor misidentifies mesothelioma as something more common and less aggressive, like NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) the prescribed treatment may have no effect on the mesothelioma tumor.
To solve these legal and medical problems, most asbestos exposure lawyers send victims to Board Certified industrial oncologists. The resulting diagnosis is almost unquestionably accurate, medically and legally. As a bonus, asbestos exposure lawyers usually connect victims with doctors who charge nothing upfront for their professional services.
Identifying the source is very tricky for many lawyers. Asbestos fibers don’t have serial numbers and are thus impossible to connect to any one source. Our team uses advanced technology to identify the likely exposure source. Computers are never biased or wrong, so their conclusions are never biased or wrong.
To prove negligence, most asbestos exposure lawyers once again partner with independent experts. An industrial hygienist usually establishes the standard of care, in terms of what PPE (personal protective equipment) workers should have worn and what the company should have told them about possible asbestos poisoning.
Usually, companies fall well short of these targets, which means substantial punitive damages are available. An asbestos exposure lawyer can force a defendant to pay punitive damages if there’s clear and convincing evidence that the defendant intentionally disregarded a known risk.
A few final words about resolving a mesothelioma or other personal injury case. Over 95 percent of these cases settle out of court. Because of give and take during settlement negotiations, a settlement is always lower than a potential court verdict.
However, a bird in the hand is usually worth two in the bush. Letting go of a good thing (a favorable settlement) to try and grab something bigger ( a court verdict) is usually a bad idea. Frequently, you end up with nothing.
Additionally, a court verdict is generally an intermediate resolution. Before the ink is dry on the court order, the defendant has probably appealed the verdict to a higher court. But when defendants settle cases, they immediately write checks.