Mesothelioma is a Legal Issue

The first lawsuits against manufacturers of asbestos which occurred in 1929. Since then, many claims have been filed against asbestos manufacturers and employers, for neglecting to implement safety measures after the links between asbestos, asbestosis, and mesothelioma known (some reports seem to place this as early as 1898). Liabilities arising from the number of lawsuits and people affected has reached billions of dollars. The amount and method of allocating compensation have been the source of many court cases, reaching up to the Supreme Court of the United States, and government efforts at resolution of existing cases and the future. However, for now, the U.S. Congress has not been signed and there is no federal law governing the compensation of asbestos. Legal History
The first lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers was brought in 1929. The parties settled that lawsuit, and as part of the agreement, the attorneys agreed not to pursue the case further. It was not until 1960 that an article published by Wagner et al. The first officially established mesothelioma as a disease arising from exposure to crocidolite asbestos. This article is called more than 30 case studies of people who suffer from mesothelioma in South Africa. Some exposures are transient and some were mine workers. But before 1950 malignant mesothelioma is very rare and some experts even question its existence. In 1962 McNulty reported the first diagnosed case of malignant mesothelioma in Australian asbestos worker. workers have worked in a factory in asbestos mines in Wittenoom from 1948 to 1950.
In the town of Wittenoom, asbestos-containing mine waste used to cover schoolyards and playgrounds. In 1965 an article in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine established that people living in asbestos factories and mines, but does not work in it, had contracted mesothelioma.
Despite evidence that the dust associated with asbestos mining and milling causes asbestos related disease, mining began at Wittenoom in 1943 and continued until 1966. In 1974 the first public warning of the dangers of blue asbestos which was published in a cover story called "Is this Killer in Your House?" in Australia''''Buletin magazine. In 1978 the Western Australian Government decided to phase out the town of Wittenoom, following the publication of the Ministry of Health, "The Health Hazard at Wittenoom", containing the results of air sampling and assessment of medical information worldwide.
By 1979, the first warrant for negligence related to Wittenoom were insured against CSR and its subsidiary ABA, and the Asbestos Diseases Society was formed to represent the Wittenoom victims.
In Armley, Leeds, UK asbestos JW Roberts incident involved a court case against Turner & Newall in which local residents who contracted mesothelioma to claim compensation for asbestos contamination from the mill company. One prominent case was that Hancock June, who contracted the disease in 1993 and died in 1997.
Articles obtained from http://www.news-medical.net/