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Contrary to what may be popular belief, asbestos exposure can occur virtually anywhere and at anytime, not just in the construction and manufacturing industries. The health effects of such exposure are tangible and devastating for victims who go on to develop mesothelioma. For some in South Carolina, these terrible health outcomes do not occur until years or even decades after exposure.

An out-of-state woman recently filed a lawsuit against the industrial aluminum company Novelis Corp. In her suit, she blames one of the company’s former products for exposing her late husband to asbestos back in the 1950s. The product, Snowdrift, was not originally manufactured by Novelis, but by its predecessor.

Her husband received his diagnosis of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma in Dec. 2016. He eventually died of the disease in July 2018, and his widowed wife filed the suit in late Nov. 2018. The couple had been married for just shy of 60 years when he passed away, and she is asking for a trial jury and unspecified monetary damages.

The death of a loved one from what was likely a preventable disease is one of the most difficult life experiences that some South Carolina families will ever face. When that disease is mesothelioma, a fatal cancer known to be caused by exposure to the toxic substance asbestos, the process can be that much more difficult. However, families who hold negligent parties responsible for that exposure can do much more than achieve just legal recourse for their loved one — they can also effect changes that protect future potential victims.