3/15/11, “mesothelioma lawyer Alaska” Alaska is home to a number of natural asbestos deposits. Asbestos is associated with volcanism and areas in which earthquakes are common; therefore this correlation should be unsurprising due to the state’s seismic activity. Alaska is also home to many industries, both directly and indirectly connected to asbestos, creating a growing field of mesothelioma lawyers Alaska.
Alaska has a number of industrialized sites where asbestos has been a problem. The state is home to a number of power plants and the facilities of four oil companies. Other industries include pulp mills, marine repair facilities and, interestingly, seafood processing plants. According to an EPA news release from 2001, a manager at Great Pacific Seafoods, Inc., pleaded guilty for violating Clean Air Act safety regulations when removing asbestos at an Anchorage facility prior to its sale to the Alaska DOT. The company was fined half a million dollars, and the manager faced a one year prison sentence and a $100,000 fine. Exposure to asbestos has been linked to mesothelioma, a terminal cancer.
Industrial buildings are not the only structure affected by asbestos. Public school buildings in Alaska have had to deal with asbestos problems over the past several years as well.
The State of Alaska imposes a two-year statute of limitations on all personal injury claims, including toxic torts (toxic exposure) such as mesothelioma lawsuits Alaska, premises and products liability, workers’ compensation and wrongful death lawsuits. This is upheld and modified by certain statutes: Alaska Statute 23.30.105(a) requires that a claim for disability compensation must be filed after victims develop the disabling condition and within two years of learning of the nature of their condition and its relation to the employment. However, the statutes do make an exception for latent injuries. For latent injuries, the two-year statute of limitations begins when victims discover the disabling condition, as long as it can be shown that the victims did not realize and would not have had the education, intelligence or experience to realize any earlier the nature of their condition and its relation to their employment. In practice, this means that in Alaska the two-year statute of limitations for bringing a mesothelioma lawsuit Alaska due to asbestos exposure begins when the individual discovers the malignant mesothelioma.
The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska confirmed this decision in its 2001 review of the court case Collins v. Arctic Builders, Inc., et. al. The plaintiff in that case was exposed to asbestos in 1963 but did not know of his condition until 1990. He filed for workers’ compensation in 1991, but due to administrative confusion regarding his status as a civilian employee working on a federal property, he had to file again in 1993 with the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board (AWCB). The AWCB reviewed his claim in 1996 and determined that they did not have to pay because the two-year statute of limitations had run out. The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska found that because he filed initially in 1991, he was within the statute of limitations. The court ruled that he had until 1992, two years after he discovered the rare asbestos cancer mesothelioma, to make his claim with a mesothelioma law firm Alaska.
It is not simply those suffering from work-related exposure to asbestos who are encouraged to get in touch with a mesothelioma lawyer Alaska for help with a mesothelioma lawsuit Alaska. Individuals who have lived, attended school, or worked near an Alaskan Superfund site may also endure the effects of having been exposed to toxins such as asbestos.
Alaska Superfund sites known to have asbestos contamination include Arctic Surplus Salvage Yard, U.S. Army Fort Richardson, located five miles north of Anchorage, and U.S. Army Fort Wainwright, located near Fairbanks. Alaska residents who have lived near a Superfund site are advised to get the appropriate medical checks to test for signs of asbestos exposure and contact a mesothelioma attorney Alaska as soon as possible after a diagnosis.