Asbestos suit filed for deceased drywall installer

CHARLESTON – A Genoa woman is suing 55 companies she claims are responsible for her late husband’s lung injury and death.

Lonnie Jay Thompson was diagnosed with lung cancer on Feb. 17, 2011, from which he died on Oct. 14, 2011, according to a complaint filed Feb. 11 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Virginia Sue Thompson claims the 55 defendants are responsible for his lung cancer.

Lonnie Thompson smoked cigarettes from 1960 until 2005, but then quit, according to the suit.

Virginia Thompson claims her late husband was exposed to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products during his career as a drywall installer, carpenter and pipefitter from 1963 until 1999.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.

Virginia Thompson is seeking a jury trial to resolve all issues involved. She is being represented by Bronwyn I. Rinehart of James F. Humphreys & Associates.

The case has been assigned to a visiting judge.

The 55 companies named as defendants include 3M Company; A.C.F. Industries, LLC; Borg-Warner Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; CBS Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; and Crane Company.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 13-C-282