Services Occupational Exposure

Kean Miller represents clients in the defense of occupational exposure claims, including benzene exposure claims, asbestos exposure claims for mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and other cancers, talc/talcum powder claims, and other occupational exposure claims to various workplace agents, products, and equipment. We represent clients and try cases nationwide and have unique premises owner experience and product liability experience in the energy, petrochemical, and manufacturing sectors, including in-depth knowledge of facility and product histories. Our trial teams have decades of experience with scientific and medical experts, and effectively manage and defend all aspects of experts’ involvement in these matters.

Our trial lawyers negotiate settlements and try cases before juries across the country. We have a vast network of local counsel with whom we partner to provide regional insights on courts, judges, and juries. We regularly defend claims for short-term and long-term exposure to alleged hazardous substances, industrial accidents involving alleged hazardous or toxic substances, and products liability litigation involving the sale and use of alleged hazardous or toxic substances, products, and equipment. We have defended some of the largest companies in the world in asbestos, silica, benzene, and drilling mud claims, both land-based and offshore, in numerous state and federal jurisdictions.

We serve as National Coordinating Counsel to certain clients, managing large dockets of cases around the nation, and in high-risk jurisdictions such as California, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana. Our team employs state-of-the art technologies for organizing, managing, tracking, and litigating complex exposure cases.

Representative Experience

• Representation of a major petrochemical facility in a facility explosion incident resulting in numerous personal injury claims.
• Management of complex national dockets of asbestos claims, including docket strategy, local counsel management, expert retention, preparation and defense, reporting, trial, settlement negotiations, and appeals.
• Management of multi-state dockets of asbestos and benzene premise and product claims against an international petrochemical defendant, including docket strategy, discovery coordination, document management and production, local counsel management, expert retention, reporting, settlement negotiations, and trial.
• Management of a national docket of asbestos claims for a steel manufacturer, including docket strategy, local counsel management, expert retention and reporting, trial, settlement negotiations, and appeals.
• Tried occupational gradual hearing loss claims against manufacturing facility and obtained land-mark Louisiana Supreme Court ruling, barring all such claims in Louisiana under Worker’s Compensation Exclusivity.
• Defense of claims of alleged exposures to a variety of materials, including H2S, SO2, NOx, chlorine, ammonia, phosgene, vinyl chloride, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals.
• Representation of national energy pipeline companies in asbestos exposure claims.
• Representation of numerous petrochemical manufacturing facilities in asbestos, silica, and benzene exposure claims.
• Representation of product and equipment manufacturers in the defense of alleged asbestos exposure claims from commercial, industrial, and military exposures.
• Defense of claims of alleged exposures to hazardous or toxic substances manufactured or sold by business and industrial clients.