AUBURN – Two former paper-mill workers diagnosed with asbestos-related disease are suing the manufacturers and suppliers of the potentially lethal materials.
The two separate suits, filed this week in Androscoggin County Superior Court, are not part of a class or group action, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.
They name as defendants about two dozen businesses, including plumbing suppliers and an insurance company. They do not hold the two mills where they worked responsible for their injuries.
James Crowley worked at Oxford Paper Co. in Rumford for three years starting in 1963. Emile J. Richard of Livermore Falls worked at International Paper in Jay from 1952 to 1987.
Their wives, Joyce Richard and Kathleen Crowley are also named as plaintiffs in the actions.
During that time, they inhaled asbestos fibers, which clogged their lungs, the suit says.
The result: mesothelioma.
“It’s a pretty awful disease,” said Suzanne Johnson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “It’s a very painful process of dying.”
Their lungs will thicken with mucous, making it more and more difficult to breathe until they can no longer draw a breath, she said.
G. William Higbee, a Topsham lawyer, has filed many asbestos-injury lawsuits dating back to the 1970s, many relating to shipyard work, said Johnson, who works in Higbee’s office.
Higbee has asked the court that two Pennsylvania lawyers be allowed to serve as co-counsel.
Due to the large number of defendants who are based mostly out of state, plaintiffs often will call in out-of-state lawyers more familiar with those defendants, Johnson said.
The suits were filed at a time when Congress is considering legislation that would create a $140 billion trust fund for asbestos victims. If passed, it would void all lawsuits in the pipeline, unless a verdict had been reached, said a spokesperson at U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office.
The Senate bill fell one vote short of passing a budget point of order. The Senate majority leader could bring it back after corralling more votes. If passed by the Senate, it would go to the House.
Johnson said the timing of the two suits filed here is not pegged to the congressional action. Instead, it was the recent diagnosis of the disease in the two mill workers that triggered last week’s filings, she said.
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