Ingalls Asbestos Exposure Longshore Claim

Ingalls Shipbuilding used asbestos extensively in naval vessel construction for decades. Pipe insulation. Boiler lagging. Gaskets. Deck compounds. Fireproofing materials. The workers who installed it, cut through it, removed it, and worked alongside it during the construction and repair of naval vessels at the Pascagoula yard were exposed to asbestos fibers throughout their careers. Many of those workers are now developing asbestos-related diseases — mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer — thirty and forty years after the last exposure. The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act covers these conditions. The TV lawyer who has never filed a federal longshore claim does not know that, and the workers and families who call his office for help leave without the federal claim that may be the most valuable one available to them.

How Asbestos Exposure At Ingalls Produces LHWCA Claims Decades Later

Asbestos-related diseases have latency periods measured in decades. Mesothelioma — a malignant cancer of the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart — typically develops twenty to fifty years after the original asbestos exposure. Asbestosis, a scarring of the lung tissue from inhaled asbestos fibers, develops more gradually and may not produce disabling symptoms until years after exposure ends. Lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure follows a similar long latency pattern, with the risk compounded significantly in workers who also smoked.

An Ingalls pipefitter who was exposed to asbestos pipe insulation throughout the 1960s and 1970s may not develop mesothelioma until 2020 or 2025. The connection between that diagnosis and the occupational exposure at Ingalls thirty or forty years earlier is medically well-established — mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure and it is the signature disease of asbestos-exposed industrial workers. That worker has an LHWCA occupational disease claim. He also has potential tort claims against asbestos product manufacturers under 33 U.S.C. Section 933. Both claims need to be identified and pursued correctly from the moment of diagnosis.

The Pascagoula longshore claim deadline for an asbestos occupational disease runs from the date the worker knew or should have known the condition was related to his employment — typically the date of diagnosis or the date a physician connected the diagnosis to the occupational history. For mesothelioma, that date is usually the diagnosis date, since mesothelioma is so strongly associated with asbestos exposure that the causal connection is apparent immediately. The two-year LHWCA clock runs from that date. Given the severity of the disease and the financial needs of the worker and his family, there is no time to wait before pursuing the claim.

The LHWCA Claim And The Asbestos Tort Claim: How They Work Together

An Ingalls worker with mesothelioma or asbestosis has two separate categories of claims. The LHWCA occupational disease claim against the employer and carrier provides the no-fault workers’ compensation benefits — medical care and wage replacement — without requiring proof of negligence. The asbestos product liability claim against the manufacturers of the insulation, gaskets, and other asbestos-containing materials the worker was exposed to at Ingalls is a separate tort claim that can include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and other non-economic damages the LHWCA does not cover.

These claims are not mutually exclusive. The LHWCA carrier has a subrogation lien on the asbestos tort recovery, similar to how the lien works in a Section 905(b) maritime injury case. That lien needs to be managed strategically. Asbestos litigation against product manufacturers has its own procedural framework, its own expert witness requirements, and its own settlement dynamics that are separate from the LHWCA system. Coordinating both claims from the start — rather than pursuing one and discovering the other later — is how injured workers maximize the total recovery available to them and their families.

The same Section 933 framework that creates the subrogation lien also preserves the worker’s right to elect between the LHWCA compensation and the third-party tort recovery. That election has strategic implications depending on the relative values of the two recoveries and the worker’s prognosis. For a mesothelioma patient, the total value of both claims combined — managed correctly and pursued simultaneously — can be significantly higher than either claim pursued alone.

What Families Of Ingalls Workers Who Have Died From Asbestos Disease Need To Know

When an Ingalls worker dies from mesothelioma or another asbestos-related condition, the surviving spouse and dependents have claims under both the LHWCA and the asbestos tort system. Under the LHWCA, a surviving spouse is entitled to 50 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage for life or until remarriage under 33 U.S.C. Section 909. Dependent children are entitled to additional benefits. These survivor benefits are separate from the worker’s compensation claim and they survive the worker’s death.

The asbestos tort wrongful death claim for surviving family members is a separate action. The damages available in a wrongful death claim include loss of consortium, loss of support, and the decedent’s own pain and suffering during the illness. These are significant damages in a mesothelioma case given the nature of the disease and the suffering involved in its progression.

As a Pascagoula longshore lawyer who handles LHWCA occupational disease claims, identifying and evaluating the full picture of claims available to an Ingalls asbestos victim and his family is the starting point. The TV lawyer who has never handled a federal longshore claim has certainly never coordinated LHWCA survivor benefits with an asbestos tort wrongful death claim. He would not know where to start. Get the free book at the bottom of this page — it covers the carrier’s playbook and what you need to protect from the moment of diagnosis.

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