CHARLESTON - Two asbestos suits were recently filed in Kanawha Circuit Court on behalf of individuals who claim a lifetime of asbestos exposure resulted in lung cancer.
John T. Rudez and Rosemary Rudez filed the first Aug. 21 in Kanawha Circuit Court against 37 defendants.
Their attorney is Craig Coleman of Pittsburgh law firm Caroselli, Beachler, McTiernan and Conboyin.
Rudez, 82, says he was diagnosed with lung cancer Sept. 20, 2005.
He worked as a bricklayer for 40 years, from 1946-1985, at various steel mills and power plants located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
He says he worked at: U.S. Steel Homestead; Clairton; Donora; Edgar Thompson; Irgin, Coke and Chemical; Duquesne Works: J&L Hazelwood and South Side; Youngstown Sheet and Tube; General Electric; Glenshaw Glass Co.; Hussey Cooper; Shenango Steel Co.; Duquesne Light at the Elrama Plant; Wheeling Steel; Weirton Steel.
Dorcas Burdette filed the other lawsuit Aug. 22 as the personal representative of the Estate of George Young, who died June 27 from mesothelioma. Her suit names nine defendants, including two West Virginia corporations.
Those defendants are: A&I Co. of South Charleston; Anchor Packing Co. of North Carolina; Atlas Industries of Pennsylvania; A.W. Chesterton Co. of Massachusetts; Georgia-Pacific Corp. of Georgia; Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. of New York; Owens-Illinois of Ohio; Viacom of Pennsylvania; and Vimasco Corp. of Nitro.
Young worked as a mechanic at Charleston's Gasoline Alley Garage before owning and operating Young's TV Service from 1954-1985.
"The plaintiff, during the course of his employment as aforesaid, was requied to handle and use asbestos products supplied to the plaintiff by the defendant corporations and was requied to and di remove asbestos insulation from piping and other sources," the complaint says.
John Skaggs of The Calwell Practice in Charleston is representing Burdette.
Both suits seek compensatory and punitive damages and will be assigned to a visiting judge.
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 06-C-1666 and 1676
Two asbestos suits filed
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