A Mississippi woman successfully sued several companies for second-hand asbestos. A 60-year-old woman claims that she washed her brothers and father's work clothes for years and these work clothes were covered with asbestos dust which eventually made her sick. As she was about to travel from her nursing home in Mississippi to Atlanta to go to court against Georgia Pacific Corporation, the parties settled out of court.The woman who was a retired cook felt sick and was having trouble breathing. Her attorney said she was shocked when doctors found a fluid buildup around her lungs and diagnosed her with malignant pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive type of cancer most often linked to asbestos exposure.
She sued several companies that made roofing, siding, joint compounds and insulation products used by her father and brother, who had a small home-building business in Corinth. Since she was a child, Bodkin had shaken the dust off the work clothes and laundered them.
None of the companies warned consumers about the dangers of exposure to asbestos despite the industry's awareness of the potential harm as early as the 1960s, her attorney said.
She has settled with four companies, including Georgia-Pacific Corp. and two other companies that made joint compounds, Kelly-Moore Paint Co. Inc. and Bondex International Inc. (AJC)
