Mesothelioma Lawsuit Filed Against DuPont Over Asbestos Exposure

A Tennessee man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against DuPont and 20 other companies over the loss of his mother, who died from mesothelioma cancer allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos fibers carried home by her husband from a DuPont plant where he worked.

The Tennessee mesothelioma lawsuit claims that Roger Neely’s mother, Ruby Neely, died this year from the asbestos-related cancer because DuPont and other companies failed to warn his father and other workers about the danger of second hand asbestos exposure.

According to a report in The Tennesean, Neely’s father, Lively Neely, worked at the DuPont Plant in Old Hickory, Tennessee for 20 years, and during that time he unknowingly exposed his wife to asbestos fibers that were carried home on his work clothes.

Asbestos was widely used in a variety of manufacturing and construction applications throughout the last century, with use peaking in 1973. Most uses of asbestos were banned in the mid-1980s.

The lawsuit alleges that DuPont and contractors with the plant knew about the dangers of asbestos since at least the 1930s, but gave no warning to plant workers in the 1970s that asbestos fibers could be carried home to family on their clothing and in their hair to be potentially inhaled and ingested. Exposure to asbestos has been linked to a number of asbestos-specific ailments, including asbestosis and mesothelioma cancer, the disease that killed Ruby Neely this year.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer found in the lining of the chest and lung. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos exposure, and it is often not diagnosed for 20 to 40 years after exposure. As a result of the long latency period, the cancer is very advanced when it is diagnosed and life expectancy with the disease is limited.

Lively Neely worked with asbestos insulation and products at the DuPont Plant, and died of asbestos-related illness after reaching a settlement in the 1980s with DuPont over his exposure, according to The Tennessean.