(openPR) - In a case still pending against other asbestos manufacturers, asbestos attorneys Weitz & Luxenberg mailed the first settlement check of a six figure sum to the surviving family members of a New York City telephone technician who died January 17, 2010, of asbestos-related lung cancer.

During the 1970s, as a telephone technician for a New York-based phone company, he installed communication systems in dozens of commercial buildings, including the Pan Am building (now MetLife), the Roosevelt Hotel – and even the World Trade Center while it was under construction. “They put me in there from March of '71 to October of '71, because they needed more men to run wires in ceilings, down elevator shafts and so forth,” he said during depositions last year.

A telephone technician's exposure to asbestos

His work required him to be at job sites in the early stages of construction or renovation. Although his personal responsibilities as a telephone technician did not subject him to the dense clouds of asbestos dust that other tradesmen are subjected to, he worked regularly alongside New York construction tradesmen who were – including plasterers, electricians, ceiling tile workers, floor installers, pipe workers and asbestos sprayers.

Before 1980, prior to the enactment of asbestos laws, all these tradesmen worked with asbestos-containing construction products without any protective equipment whatsoever. Occupational asbestos exposure has killed thousands of construction workers. Asbestos can still be found in other products, including floor and ceiling tiles, wall plaster, acoustical tile and heating system insulation.

Secondary work exposure

As the former telephone technician spoke during deposition, it became apparent that there was a certain order to the work that was performed in buildings undergoing renovation or construction. There were always the sheetrock workers who came in to saw and mount asbestos-containing sheetrock wallboards, and the plasterers who mixed joint compounds made of asbestos to smooth the seams, and then sand them with electric sanders. This activity alone spewed forth clouds of asbestos dust. Inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers leads to fatal diseases, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. Every year, 90,000 people worldwide die of asbestos diseases.

Weitz & Luxenberg is a New York law firm that represents New Yorkers and others who have been diagnosed with asbestos cancers such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. Workers and their loved ones can get more information about the risk of on-the-job asbestos exposure at www.mesotheliomajobs.com.
For general information on the work of asbestos attorneys, visit www.weitzlux.com/asbestos-attorney_433.html.
For a free case review from Weitz & Luxenberg mesothelioma lawyers, visit www.weitzlux.com/mesothelioma-lawyer_1055.html.

Weitz & Luxenberg
700 Broadway 3rd floor
New York, NY 10003

Media contact:
Jason Wentworth
hkader@weitzlux.com
1-800-438-9786 ext. 5645