(The Salt Lake Tribune posted the following article by Rhina Guidos on its website on April 9.)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The papers describe five men who faced the end of their lives with bodies ridden with cancer. They had difficulty breathing because of damaged lungs, some developed dementia, and others were in constant pain from damaged nervous systems. Now four survivors face a similar future.
Nine lawsuits filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court allege that Union Pacific Railroad Company is to blame.
Attorneys for Union Pacific could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The lawsuits charge that the company knew about the health risks the men faced when they were exposed to toxic substances such as asbestos while working for Union Pacific. Some of the workers, like the late James A. Starbuck of Salt Lake County, worked for the railroad company as early as the mid-1930s. Others like Ogden’s L.D. Curtis worked for the company from 1949 until 1988.
They were maintenance workers, pipe fitters and machinists who later became afflicted with lung cancer, asbestosis or mesothelioma. Asbestosis is a lung disease caused by inhalation of asbestos dust. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the cells that cover the lungs. It is incurable and fatal.
The lawsuits say Union Pacific, a Utah corporation, is responsible for the workers’ ill health. They don’t specify how much money the plaintiffs are seeking.
“I hope to get some resolution for these families who have watched their loved ones deal with or die from a horrible disease,” said attorney Brent Hatch, whose law firm Hatch, James & Dodge represents the nine plaintiffs.
A 2002 report from the nonprofit Rand Institute for Civil Justice said 600,000 people in the United States had filed claims for compensation of asbestos-related injuries. By the end of 2000, the lawsuits had cost businesses more than $54 billion nationwide.