Asbestos Product Liability Lawsuits

The simple truth about dangerous products is this: they don't have to be banned to be sold safely. Gasoline can explode. Rat poison can kill. Yet both are sold every day because consumers know what they're buying and can protect themselves accordingly.

That’s the core idea behind product liability law:

If a company sells something dangerous without warning of the hazards, they can be held accountable for the harm caused by their product.

In the case of asbestos, product liability law accomplished something remarkable. Beyond compensating victims, these lawsuits fundamentally changed how America approaches occupational safety. The legal pressure created by cases like Borel v. Fibreboard didn't just expose corporate cover-ups—it drove asbestos out of everyday use, sparing millions of workers from the fate that befell previous generations.

The contrast with other countries is stark. Nations without robust product liability systems (including Russia and China) continue mining and selling asbestos today. Their workers still breathe the same deadly fibers that killed American workers for decades, because there's no legal mechanism forcing companies to prioritize safety over profits.

This is what makes asbestos product liability law so important. It doesn't just provide justice for families who've already lost loved ones—it creates the economic incentives that protect future generations. When companies know they'll be held accountable for hiding dangers, they stop hiding them. Our product liability laws thus provide justice for past victims and also prevent future victims.

Borel - The Case That Changed Everything

But this shift didn’t happen on its own. It took one man named Clarence Borel to take the asbestos industry to court and expose the truth.

Clarence was a pipefitter in Texas who spent years working with asbestos insulation. From 1936 to 1969, he worked across Texas jobsites—cutting Thermobestos at Mobil Chemical (Now ExxonMobil) in Beaumont, fitting Unibestos at Jefferson Chemical in Port Neches, and installing Johns-Manville’s 85% Magnesia at Consolidated Steel in Orange. For over 33 years, he sawed, mixed, and breathed asbestos dust, unwarned of its risks. By 1969, mesothelioma and asbestosis had claimed his lungs, and he sued a dozen manufacturers who hid the dangers of their products. Though he died before the end, the 1973 Borel v. Fibreboard ruling made history and made the following changes to product liability law:

Strict Liability

• Manufacturers could be held legally responsible for the harm their products caused, even if they didn’t intend to cause injury or acted carefully in making the product. In asbestos cases, the product was considered defective under strict liability because it lacked a proper warning. If a company sold a dangerous product and failed to warn users about the risks, they were liable for the consequences.

Duty to Warn

• Companies had a legal obligation to inform workers and consumers of the health risks associated with asbestos exposure since the danger wasn’t obvious. Failing to provide those warnings was a breach of duty. And when companies actively concealed or denied the risks, rather than simply staying silent, they could face punitive damages for their misconduct.

Joint and Several Liability

• The court in Borel v. Fibreboard recognized that asbestos diseases develop over time through cumulative exposure to many different products and sources. That meant victims like Clarence Borel didn’t have to prove exactly which product caused his disease. Instead, if a company’s product contributed to the overall exposure, that was enough to hold them liable.

• This legal concept is called joint and several liability. It means when multiple wrongdoers each contribute to an injury, and you can’t reasonably determine percentages of responsibility, they can all be held responsible for the full amount of damages.

• This rule protects victims in situations where dividing up the harm isn’t possible - such as when Clarence breathed asbestos fibers sold by multiple companies. And it's also the rule that lets us sue every company that made any asbestos product our clients may have been exposed to.

The Borel decision changed the legal landscape forever. It opened the door for thousands of workers and families to file lawsuits, uncover company secrets, and demand justice for what had been done to them.

Learn more about Clarence Borel's lawsuit.

It also set the tone for decades of accountability. For the first time, product manufacturers had to put safety ahead of profits or be forced to face the consequences. And the ripple effect still protects people today. Without Borel, asbestos might still be in brake pads, ceiling tiles, and home insulation sold across the country. Instead, companies switched to safer alternatives because someone finally made them pay for what they’d done.

Asbestos Product Liability Law Today

In today’s asbestos litigation, there are two main legal theories that explain why a product is considered “defective” under the law. Understanding the difference is key to understanding how these lawsuits work and why some products are still legally allowed, while others trigger massive liability.

Manufacturing Defect

This applies when asbestos ends up in a product that wasn’t supposed to contain it at all. In other words, the product didn’t meet its intended design or composition. Failure to comply with specifications makes it automatically defective, even if it came with a warning.

• Example: Talc products, like Johnson & Johnson’s Shower to Shower, were marketed as safe for daily use. But due to the way talc and asbestos can occur together in nature, many talc-based powders ended up contaminated. Because these products were never supposed to contain asbestos, they are considered defective under a manufacturing defect theory.

Learn more about our ovarian cancer and talcum powder lawsuits

Failure to Warn

This is the most common theory in asbestos lawsuits, especially involving industrial products like insulation, pipe wrap, and brake pads.

Under the law, companies are allowed to sell dangerous products only if they clearly warn users about the risks.

You see this principle every day: many household cleaners contain toxic chemicals. You can still buy them—but they come with big warning labels, because they smell nice but will harm or kill you if misused. Asbestos was different. It was odorless, invisible, and deadly, and yet many companies gave workers no warnings at all.

If a company knew or should have known the product could cause cancer, and failed to provide clear, visible warnings, then the product is considered defective even if it was made exactly as designed. And when companies actively tried to hide those risks, or lied about the dangers (as many asbestos manufacturers did) they may be subject to punitive damages on top of compensating victims.

The table below illustrates the difference between the two types of product liability lawsuits.

Comparing Two Defective Products: One Talc, One Industrial

Who Can Be Held Liable in an Asbestos Product Liability Lawsuit?

Most asbestos lawsuits involve multiple companies, not just one. That’s because exposure often came from many sources over time (different products, job sites, or roles) and many people knew what was happening and said nothing. The law allows you to hold all responsible parties accountable—not just the original manufacturer. And the more companies that share the blame, the better chance you have of recovering full compensation.

Here are the main types of parties that may be liable:

Manufacturers of Asbestos Products

They made the insulation, gaskets, pipe wrap, cement, brake pads, and other asbestos-containing materials—and sold them without warnings, even after they knew how deadly asbestos could be.

In Borel’s case, one of the major manufacturers he sued was Johns-Manville, which made the Thermobestos insulation he cut and installed at Mobil Chemical in Beaumont.

These companies profited from dangerous products and never gave workers a chance to protect themselves.

Distributors and Suppliers

These companies acted as middlemen—moving asbestos products from the manufacturers to jobsites like refineries and chemical plants. If they knew or should have known the products were hazardous and failed to warn anyone, they can also be held liable.

In one case we worked on, we obtained an affidavit from a delivery driver who confirmed that he made routine deliveries of asbestos insulation to a particular refinery where our client worked.

Direct Employers - Sometimes

Some employers forced workers to handle asbestos without proper protection or even discouraged them from wearing masks. While workers' compensation laws sometimes shield employers from lawsuits, exceptions exist, especially for cases involving extreme negligence, wrongful death, or secondary exposure.

Premises Owners

If you were exposed at a refinery, shipyard, or plant, the property owner may be liable for failing to maintain a safe environment or warn about known asbestos hazards. This is especially important for contractors and temporary workers, who didn’t control the site.

Borel worked at Mobil Chemical and Jefferson Chemical—facilities he didn’t own or control. Were his case filed today, we would likely sue the premises owners, including successor companies like ExxonMobil.

Learn more about premises liability lawsuits and how they differ from product liability lawsuits.

Contractors and Maintenance Companies

These are the people and companies who actually installed, removed, or disturbed asbestos-containing materials—often during shutdowns, renovations, or daily maintenance.

In Borel’s case, much of his exposure came from working near contractor crews from Fuller-Austin and J.T. Thorpe, who were cutting and mixing asbestos products without any safety precautions.

If these contractors ignored safety rules or exposed nearby workers, they can be held responsible.

Successor Companies

Even if the original company is gone, its liabilities usually don’t vanish. If a company merged, rebranded, or sold its product line, the successor company may inherit responsibility—especially if they continued selling or profiting from asbestos products.

Today, we’d pursue not just Mobil, but ExxonMobil, as a successor to the original site owners and operators. When one company purchases another, they also purchase that company's legal liabilities.

Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts

Many of the worst offenders eventually declared bankruptcy. But as part of that process, they were required to set up asbestos trust funds to compensate future victims. Even if the company no longer exists, you can still file a claim.

Borel would likely be eligible today for trust claims against Johns-Manville, Fibreboard, and other companies whose products contributed to his exposure. In fact, ten out of the eleven companies Borel sued now have asbestos trust funds to compensate individuals exposed to their products.

Learn more about asbestos trust claims.

Why It Matters to Identify All Liable Parties

Every liable party adds another potential source of compensation—and another chance to uncover the truth. An experienced legal team will investigate your exposure history, track down the right companies, and pursue every claim you’re entitled to file.

What Compensation Is Available in Asbestos Product Lawsuits?

Asbestos-related illnesses don’t just take a toll on your health. They impact your finances, your relationships, and every part of your life. Product liability lawsuits allow you to recover compensation for the harm done to you and your family.

Depending on your case, you may be eligible for several types of damages:

Economic Damages

These cover your real financial losses—medical bills, lost income, travel for treatment, and more.

Example: John, a former auto mechanic, developed mesothelioma after working for decades with asbestos brake pads. His treatment cost over $250,000, and he had to retire early, forcing him to lose $75,000 in future wages. He also spent $20,000 traveling to a specialty cancer center. All of these were covered under his economic damages.

Noneconomic Damages

These address the human cost of asbestos exposure, such as your pain, your struggles, your loss of joy and connection.

Example: Robert, a retired construction worker with asbestosis, now struggles to breathe and can no longer play with his grandkids or go fishing. His wife filed for loss of consortium, since the disease also took a toll on their marriage. Together, they received compensation for physical suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Punitive Damages

These are awarded when a company’s actions were outrageously reckless—like covering up asbestos dangers to protect profits.

Example: Linda worked at a shipyard where the insulation manufacturer knew their product caused cancer but kept selling it anyway without a warning label. When she developed mesothelioma, the court awarded $5 million in punitive damages to punish the company for knowingly putting lives at risk.

Wrongful Death Damages

If a loved one died due to asbestos exposure, family members can recover compensation for the financial and emotional loss.

Example: Karen’s father died from lung cancer after working with asbestos gaskets at a refinery. Her family was compensated for his medical and funeral costs, the loss of his income, and the emotional weight of losing a father.

Survival Damages

These allow the estate of someone who has passed to recover for what the victim endured: pain, lost wages, and suffering between diagnosis and death.

Example: James, a retired pipefitter, battled mesothelioma for months before passing away. His family filed a survival claim to ensure he was compensated for what he went through before death.

Who Can File an Asbestos Product Liability Lawsuit?

If you or a loved one developed an asbestos-related illness, you may have the right to file a claim even if the exposure happened decades ago.

There are two main categories of exposure:

Direct Exposure to Asbestos in the Workplace

If you worked with or around asbestos-containing products (especially in construction, refineries, shipyards, power plants, or factories) you likely had direct exposure. This includes:

• Handling asbestos insulation, gaskets, brake pads, etc.

• Working near others using asbestos products

• Tearing out or installing materials that released asbestos dust

Learn more about the kinds of industries that used asbestos heavily, the occupations most likely to be exposed to it, and the products made with it.

Secondary Exposure (Take-Home Exposure)

Even if you never worked with asbestos yourself, you may have been exposed to asbestos by someone who did. Asbestos fibers cling to the clothes and shoes of asbestos workers, so they often unknowingly brought asbestos into the home.

Example: A woman develops mesothelioma decades after regularly washing her husband’s dusty work clothes. That dust? Asbestos. These “take-home” or secondary exposure cases are now a major part of asbestos litigation.

How We Prove Asbestos Caused Your Illness

You don’t need to remember every product you worked with, or every dusty jobsite you set foot on.
That’s our job. In asbestos lawsuits, the key legal question is causation: Did asbestos exposure from a particular company's product or place cause or contribute to your illness?

The short answer is: Yes, it can be proven. And we do it all the time.

What Is Causation?

In legal terms, causation means showing that you wouldn’t have gotten sick “but for” the exposure. It doesn’t mean asbestos was the only factor. It means it was a substantial contributing factor.

In asbestos cases, that usually breaks down into two parts:

General Causation

This simply means: Can asbestos cause this disease at all?

For mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis, the answer is universally yes. This part of the case is usually not disputed. By the 1930's it was widely accepted that asbestos could cause asbestosis; by the late 1950's the link to lung cancer was proven; and by the mid 1960's the link to mesothelioma was proven as well.

Specific Causation

This is the hard part—and the most important. It means: Can we prove your illness came from specific asbestos exposure? No asbestos-company doctor would testify today that asbestos doesn't cause mesothelioma - that's beyond doubt. Instead, they'll argue that your mesothelioma couldn't have been caused by their asbestos, or that maybe your mesothelioma comes from genetic bad luck, or some other bogus reason why they're not responsible.

That’s where our team goes to work.

How We Prove Specific Causation

Proving that your illness was caused by specific asbestos products requires more than medical records. It demands comprehensive investigation that reconstructs exposure scenarios from decades ago. We combine historical research, expert testimony, and our extensive document archives to build ironclad causation arguments that hold the right companies accountable.

Reconstruct Your Exposure History

Our investigation process examines every aspect of your work environment:

• Which specific facilities you worked at and when

• What asbestos-containing products were used during your employment

• Which manufacturers supplied those products to your job sites

• How workplace practices created exposure to airborne fibers

You don't need to remember brand names or product specifications. We can often identify the exact materials you encountered through old work orders, union records, shipping manifests, and historical product catalogs that most firms never think to examine.

The Power of Our Private Document Archives

One of our greatest advantages in proving causation is simple: we already have the evidence.

Our firm maintains what may be the largest private collection of asbestos-related documents in the United States. This archive includes product shipping records showing exactly which asbestos materials were delivered to specific job sites, workplace documentation proving asbestos use during particular time periods, and internal corporate communications where manufacturers acknowledged the dangers while continuing to market deadly products.

In some cases, we can demonstrate that specific asbestos products were delivered to a facility during the exact period when our client worked there. This level of detailed evidence transforms causation arguments from general theories into concrete proof of exposure to identifiable products from known manufacturers.

This is justice made possible by preparation. While other firms spend months trying to reconstruct exposure scenarios, we often have the key evidence already digitized and searchable in our database.

Medical Experts Who Understand the Science

We work extensively with board-certified physicians and industrial hygienists who specialize in asbestos-related illnesses. These medical experts review your complete exposure history, analyze your diagnostic imaging and pathology reports, and provide detailed opinions connecting your workplace exposure to your current diagnosis. Their testimony supports your case and educates courts about the science underlying asbestos disease causation.

Addressing Alternative Causation Arguments

Defense attorneys routinely argue that factors other than asbestos caused your illness—particularly smoking history or genetic predisposition. These arguments are designed to create doubt, but they don't eliminate asbestos liability when the science is properly explained.

Smoking and Asbestos Exposure: While smoking does increase lung cancer risk, it has no connection to mesothelioma, which is a disease caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. For lung cancer cases, medical research demonstrates that asbestos and smoking create what experts call a "synergistic effect," where the combination dramatically increases cancer risk beyond what either factor would cause alone. Rather than eliminating asbestos as a cause, smoking history often strengthens the scientific evidence linking workplace exposure to disease development.

Genetic Factors: Some individuals may have genetic predispositions that affect their susceptibility to certain cancers. However, predisposition is not causation. Our medical experts focus on demonstrating how asbestos exposure triggered or accelerated the disease process, regardless of underlying genetic factors. Having a genetic vulnerability doesn't absolve the companies whose products delivered the environmental trigger that activated that vulnerability.

Why Our Approach Works

The challenge of proving asbestos causation decades after exposure is exactly why our practice exists. Yes, it's difficult to reconstruct what happened 30 or 40 years ago. Yes, exposure often came from multiple sources across different job sites. Yes, companies systematically destroyed evidence and covered their tracks for decades.

But those obstacles are precisely what we've spent over a decade preparing to overcome.

We've built our entire practice around reconstructing industrial history, uncovering hidden evidence, and holding corporations accountable for decisions they made when they thought no one would ever be able to prove what really happened. The companies that created these exposure scenarios counted on the passage of time to protect them from liability.

They counted wrong.

Lawsuits are Just One Part of the Compensation Puzzle

Imagine Clarence Borel is diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2025, decades after working industrial shutdowns as an insulator.

In the 1960s, Borel worked at the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, insulating pipes, boilers, and vessels. He was employed by a contractor called Fuller-Austin and regularly handled asbestos-containing insulation materials, including:

• Thermobestos (made by Johns-Manville)

• Unibestos (made by Pittsburgh Corning)

• Kaylo (made by Owens Corning)

All of these products were sold without warnings—even though their manufacturers were aware of the dangers of asbestos.

What Would His Product Liability Claims Look Like Today?

If those manufacturers were still in business today, Borel could file product liability lawsuits against them. His claims would be based on two key legal theories:

• Failure to warn: These companies sold asbestos products without warning workers about the health risks, even though they knew asbestos could cause fatal diseases like mesothelioma.

• Defective design: The products themselves were inherently dangerous because they were made with asbestos when safer alternatives existed.

Even though Borel didn’t make the choice to use these specific products, he was exposed simply by doing his job,and that’s exactly what product liability law is designed to address.

What If the Manufacturers Filed for Bankruptcy?

In Borel’s case, the manufacturers of all three products (Johns-Manville, Pittsburgh Corning, and Owens Corning) have since declared bankruptcy and established asbestos trust funds. So instead of filing lawsuits, he’d be eligible to file product-specific trust claims to recover compensation for each of those exposures.

We build this kind of case every day: By identifying exactly which asbestos products our clients worked with and holding the manufacturers accountable, through trust claims or lawsuits. You don’t need to remember every product. We’ll do the research if we don't already have it in our archives.

Why Choose Our Firm to Help Your Family?

The law firm you choose for your asbestos case can determine whether your family receives maximum compensation or settles for far less than you deserve. Asbestos litigation requires specialized knowledge, extensive resources, and strategic thinking that goes far beyond filing standard personal injury claims. At The Law Offices of Justinian C. Lane, Esq. – PLLC, we've recovered over $400 million for families affected by asbestos-related illnesses.

Our unique advantages include:

Our proprietary asbestos research database containing over 200,000 documented exposure sites and decades of digitized court records that can often prove causation in cases other firms can't win. We don't start your investigation from scratch.

Medical expert networks comprised of board-certified physicians who understand both the science of asbestos disease and the specific documentation requirements of trust funds and litigation. We ensure your medical evidence meets the highest standards from day one.

Strategic case development that coordinates trust fund claims with potential litigation to maximize total recovery while protecting your compensation from excessive legal expenses. We structure every case to put more money in your pocket, not ours.

We build comprehensive strategies designed to secure maximum compensation and protect your family's financial future.

Time Is Critical for Your Case

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis, immediate action is essential. Every state imposes strict deadlines for filing asbestos claims, and once those deadlines pass, your opportunity for compensation may be permanently lost.

During your free consultation, we will:

• Conduct a comprehensive review of your exposure history and medical diagnosis

• Explain all available compensation options specific to your circumstances

• Handle the entire legal process so you can focus on treatment and family

The consultation costs nothing, you're under no obligation, and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your family.

📞 Call 833-4-ASBESTOS (833-427-2378) or schedule your free consultation online below.

Your family deserves justice. We're here to help you claim it.