ShipyardIn 2008 Mr. Charles Akins, a retired boilermaker and ship surveyor, received a dreadful diagnosis that would force him to take a trip down memory lane—all the way back to the 1960s.

Mr. Akins was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, a type of asbestos-related cancer that affects the peritoneum (lining of the internal organs). Around 30% of  mesothelioma patients are afflicted with peritoneal mesothelioma and it is fatal in many cases. However, Mr. Akins has been battling the disease since October 2008, beginning with a procedure called “debulking surgery.” The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) describes the surgery as:

“A procedure whereby a surgically incurable malignant neoplasm is partially removed without curative intent in order to make subsequent therapy with drugs, radiation or other adjunctive measures more effective and, thereby, improve the length of survival.”

For more than 30 years, between the 1960s and 1990s, Mr. Akins worked as a boilermaker, ship surveyor, and finally a supervisor at a number of San Francisco Bay Area shipyards. Mr. Akins and his attorneys believed that it was somewhere between 1972 and 1976 that asbestos exposure occurred while Akins was a ship surveyor.

During this time, the defendant in Akins case—RPI Company (formerly known as Plant Insulation Company), dispatched insulators to Mr. Akins’ region to install and remove asbestos-containing thermal pipe insulation in the boiler rooms of multiple disabled U.S. Navy Ships in the process of being repaired.

According to the claim against RPI Company, RPI ignored all asbestos safety protocols mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and the United States Navy.

In the end, a jury agreed that evidence presented by Akins’ attorneys proved that RPI Company (f/k/a Plant Insulation Company) was well aware of the dangers of asbestos and asbestos-exposure, and neglected to:

  • Warn workers of the dangers of asbestos
  • Perform tests prior to the installation and removal of asbestos
  • Follow all other safety protocols surrounding the installation and removal of asbestos

Five years after Mr. Akins’ first surgery, a San Francisco jury found RPI Company (f/k/a Plant Insulation Company) negligent and awarded $730,000 in damages to Mr. Akins. The breakdown is as follows:

  • $480,000 in economic damages
  • $250,000 in non-economic damages

Mr. Akins’ trial began in September of 2013 and ended on Thursday, November 14, 2013. The verdict was reached after just two days of deliberations.

Like most mesothelioma patients, Mr. Akins’ battle doesn’t stop here. The cost to treat cancer is rising at a rapid pace. In fact, according to a Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) report released in 2008, the cost for cancer treatment rose by a staggering 75% in just nine years between 1995 and 2004.

And because mesothelioma is one of the most difficult types of cancer to treat, and the most cutting edge treatments cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, it is common for many mesothelioma patients to pay in excess of $1 million during the course of treatment—just to stay alive.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact an attorney today to find out about your legal rights as a mesothelioma victim. An MRHFM attorney can help. Our attorneys have 100 years of combined experience working exclusively with mesothelioma victims and their families. Contact an MRHFM attorney today by phone at 866-373-5000, email, or live chat. We’re always here to help.

Sources

100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma
Print. Harvey I. Pass, MD

Got Mold? Disaster Recovery Services, Inc.
Gotmold.ca

HarrisMartin Publishing, Haddonfield, NJ
Harrismartin.com

Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI)
Jnci.oxfordjournals.org

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook
Print. Robert S. Porter, MD