WSJ: Case of the Vanishing X-rays - A trial lawyer admits that asbestos claims were phony.

Wall Street Journal ^ | August 31, 2005 | Editorial

[hobbes1]

I understand they lurk in that particular specialty....

[Condor51]

***I live around asbestos all my life and so did many others- with no ill effects.***

Ditto.
As I kid we lived in a big old Chicago Greystone apartment building built around 1880-1890 with steam heat. All the pipes in the basement were naturally insulated with asbestos. We'd peel the stuff off an CHEW on it (tasted like paper).

And since 1970 I've been in the construction industry and have been 'exposed' to air borne asbestos particles about a gazillion times. And the field workers I worked with over those years about 97 giga-BILLION times, all with no ill effects from asbestos.

• Structural steel fireproofing - asbestos
  
• Floor tiles - asbestos
  
• Ceiling tiles - asbestos
  
• Pipe and duct insulation - asbestos.
  
• External Boiler insulation - asbestos.
  
• And also; duct sealant was composed of - asbestos
  
• And the best underground duct material EVER made, "Transite" - asbestos.
  
• And the best fire proof commercial kitchen exhaust joint sealant - asbestos rope.

That being said here's something that IS harmful - Fiberglass Insulation.

That sh*t is an eco and health nightmare. Get that 'stuff' on your clothes and you just better burn them. And breathing it, fugetaboutit, it'll stick to your lungs forever.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Dixy Lee Ray exposed this lawyer money scam in her book Enviromental Overkill.

Money. It's all about money.

[hometoroost]

"So imagine Judge Jack's surprise to discover at a hearing last Monday that Houston attorney Scott Hooper -- one of several tort lawyers who brought the claims -- had removed more than 1,300 X-rays from a court depository."

When they resort to pulling a Sandy Berger you know they are in deep doo-doo.

[maryz]

I saw an article in American Spectator about asbestos. IIRC it said that there are two types of asbestos. One has straight fibers and is relatively harmless, and the other has curly fibers, which are likely to do harm. I believe it said the curly type is also more expensive, so is unlikely to be used unless there's a good reason why it's required. I couldn't imagine why this hadn't come up in every discussion of asbestos.

[maryz]

The extraordinary exchange between Judge Jack and trial lawyer Richard Laminack is reprinted in today's Journal as an op-ed.

I saw that! The headline was "Jack the Ripper"! LOL! That judge is terrific!

[Old Student]

"But billions were spent on eradicating the 'problem' and buildings were demolished for having asbestos (one of the best insulators)"

I seem to remember a 9/11-related post that advanced the theory that the WTC collapsed because the top dozen or more floors were built after asbestos was forbidden for use as an insulator; the claim, as I recall, was that the buildings either wouldn't have collapsed at all, or at least that it would have taken longer, perhaps enabling full evacuation, if the structural steel had been better protected from the heat of the fuel fires. Anyone else remember that?

[Jeff Chandler]

Just wait until the lawyers decide to go after fiberglass. Katie bar the door!

[ridesthemiles]

Of course, federal law prohibited me from getting carpet over the tile because it was asbestos. I was screwed because of junk science and lawyers.

Soooo... Put down the glue on carpet pieces. You can make interesting patterns with them. Do it yourself. See Lowes....

[B.Bumbleberry]

The next big push is going to be benzene. I saw an ad on TV the other night soliciting clients with benzene exposure. This was by the same lawyer who has be running ads about asbestos for years.

[wildbill]

Should be front page news? Right, but a search of the Houston Chronicle website shows nothing recent about asbestos.

[Redbob]

"Back in June, federal Judge Janis Graham Jack disparaged nearly all of 10,000 claims for the rare lung disease as having been 'manufactured for money.' She also told the lawyers involved that federal prosecutors wanted access to the documents and X-rays surrounding this "fraud.'"

"The rare lung disease" being discussed here, though, is silicosis, not asbestosis.

That should have been a key point in your post, don't you think?

[Mr. K]

And another thing... Didn't silicone breast implants prove to be harmless eventualy too???

That was a REAL tragedy

[Redbob]

""In the future, the Court would like Mr. Hooper to form a closer relationship with the law."

LOL!

(But what are the odds of that?)

[Redbob]

"american asbestos has never caused any harm whatsoever..."

You'd have a hard time explaining that to the hundreds of Johns-Manville employees who have died of mesothelioma, an extraordinarily rare form of cancer that only seems to afflict those exposed to asbestos.

What's going on in the courtroom, however, has nothing to do with actual asbestos-related dieases, and everything to do with lawyer-instigated fraud.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping.

Another massive, lucrative, legal fraud.

[satchmodog9]

I learned how to do the carpet myself and saved a few bucks. Screwwwwwwwwwwwwww them.

[Lx]

I don't know about that, I just put ceramic pads on my car and they work great. Of course the dealer says not to use them because they wear rotors faster, but they'll be glad to sell me OEM brakes. They also are very low in brake dust which is an added benefit!
I agree about the dust. I've blown out many nasty drum brake assemblies when I wrenched for a living and I'm still here, knock on wood.