Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled against Ford Australia in an asbestos related lawsuit. The Geelong Advertiser reports that FoMoCo was "ordered to pay Perth motor mechanic Antonino Lo Presti $840,000 after contracting asbestosis in 2001 from working with brake pads in the 1970s and '80s. The court heard Mr Lo Presti was working in Ford dealerships without protective equipment, ventilation or warnings, long before asbestos was banned in 2003." The ruling– which determined that Ford knew the risks to mechanics but failed to take action– is sure to open the floodgates for a class action lawsuit. If the thousands of motor mechs who worked on Ford's asbestos brake pads Down Under get a fraction of Lo Presti's payout, this one will heavily damage an already sinking ship.
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Were the same practices occurring in American dealerships as well or was it just Australia?
Well,
If this is the case, it won’t be limited to Ford, because all automakers used asbestos in their brake pads for a long period of time and I doubt that they had any more protective measures.
Still, I very much understand that people that are seriously injured now by working on stuff that was at least suspected of being dangerous at that time without them knowing so are seeking some kind of compensation.
I remember like it was yesterday watching the mechanics bang the brake drums with a hammer before they pulled them. The dust was very heavy and flying everywhere. Who knew?
The asbestos litigation has been going on for a very long time in the US. GM, Ford, Chrysler, Bendix and others have been paying these guys for quite a while and will continue to do so. I suspect that asbestos settlements are written into the operating budged. Not sure if this is a new development in Australia though. Strangely enough, GM Ford and Chrysler get sued all the time for asbestos brakes, I have never seen a case of a foreign automaker (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc) being sued for it. They should have had a significant enough market share by the 80’s to get sued in an auto mechanics case.
Like so many other materials, with proper education and precautions for workers, asbestos could be handled safely and would be a tremendously valuable material. Due to government scare-legislation, an otherwise valueable material is without much market. School children are not going to die if it was installed in their schools. Only workers and miners were every truely at risk. In fact it is a very “green” material as it is a superb insulator.
I knew a guy (from the “Guy Who Knew a Guy” files) that took a temporary job with a HAZMAT kind of company removing asbestos laden coatings from the inside of buildings. He made very good money. Had to wear a hazmat suit all day. Not a fun job but, he was raising a family…
Point is…that was in the early 1980’s. We knew of the dangers then. And this was going on in Australia well in to the 2000’s? How? Why?
Lawyers have gotten very rich from the hindsight of litigation.
# Ralph SS :
February 21st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Point is…that was in the early 1980’s. We knew of the dangers then. And this was going on in Australia well in to the 2000’s? How? Why?
The use of asbestos in Australia has been limited or prohibited for many years – including in connection with brake linings.
What happened in 2003 was an Australia wide ban on importation of asbestos in any form (subject to limited listed exceptions).
Good Lord; between Pintos bursting into flames, Explorers toppling over, SUVs burning folks’ houses down, and now this…it’s no wonder Ford’s in the shitter.