Alabama’s industrial base for much of the twentieth century exposed thousands of the state’s residents to asbestos products. The steel mills of Bessemer and Birmingham were prime locations for employee exposure to asbestos fibers because of the extensive use of asbestos insulation throughout the mills. Asbestos safety clothing was also prominent for the protection of employees working near the furnaces.
Along the Gulf Coast there were also at least two major shipyards, Bender Shipbuilding and Alabama Dry Dock. In the twentieth century shipyards were highly ranked as asbestos danger zones, again because of the asbestos insulation used in ship engine rooms, for boilers, and for the extensive piping systems throughout the ships. Navy vessels often used asbestos for fire retardant material in the walls separating ship compartments. Mobile has always been Alabama’s outlet to the sea and remains the nation’s tenth largest port today.
Montgomery has always had its share of metal fabricating businesses; today industry plays a smaller role in the economy but the opportunities for asbestos exposure were abundant in the twentieth century. Its historical role as a cotton transit center led to the development of textile mills, which employed asbestos parts in some of the machinery and asbestos flooring in many of the work areas. Because Tuscaloosa has been a university town for so long it doesn’t have as much of the industrial history found in Alabama’s other major cities.
Legal Rights for Alabama Mesothelioma Victims
The State of Alabama is not the most receptive place to file an asbestos liability suit if you’ve developed mesothelioma. The state courts have a statute of limitations that allows for a suit filed within a year after diagnosis, but only for cases where exposure occurred after 1980. Because mesothelioma doesn’t manifest itself for decades after exposure, this law effectively bars many Alabama citizens from seeking compensation for asbestos related disease.
That does not mean that asbestos victims cannot seek compensation, either through a federal court action or by filing a asbestos claim with one of the asbestos trust funds set up by asbestos companies to compensate victims. Fill out the brief form on this page and a mesothelioma attorney will be in touch with you immediately. Read more about how to to find the right Asbestos lawyer as well as recent Mesothelioma case settlements in addition to lawsuits for Mesothelioma.
Alabama Legal References:
LII Alabama Legal Ethics Library
Alabama State Bar Association
State Govt. Home Page
Alabama Dept of Archives & History
Attorney General Site Alabama
Bounds Law Library, University of Alabama
Alabama State Law Library
Alabama Constitution Materials
Alabama House and Senate Legislature
Alabama Judicial System Online
