| Health | House | News | Basics | Victims | Resources |
Thirty Years Installing Fiberglass
Leaves Texan a Pulmonary Cripple
Leaves Texan a Pulmonary Cripple
By Robert Horowitz
The similarities between Robert Lee "Red" Randolph, and Clarence Borel are portentous. A long-time asbestos worker, Borel hired an attorney in 1970 when breathing became difficult. The 1973 legal judgment in Borel's favor was the first among thousands which brought the asbestos industry to its knees, caused the bankruptcy of the giant Johns Manville Corp., and led to a near-total ban on asbestos in the United States. Borel's attorney, Ward Stephenson, founded the law firm in Orange, Texas, where Paul Henderson is now a partner. Henderson is representing Randolph in what could be another watershed case.
The same companies which made the asbestos products that killed Borel made the fiberglass insulation which Randolph used six days a week, sometimes for 12 hours a day. Randolph cut and installed fiberglass batts, pumped and sprayed loose fiberglass wool into attics, opened packages of fiberglass and unloaded trucks and trains full of the synthetic, respirable mineral fibers.
Randolph led an honorable, modest life in and around Lufkin, Texas. He was active in his church and in the local Knights of Columbus, and he enjoyed spending time with his wife and three children. Randolph left high school in 11th grade to work, and for most of his 30-year career as a fiberglass insulation installer, he took home $178 for a 50-hour-plus work week. He loved work, and said he would like to work to age 90.
Now the sixty-year-old Texan can no longer walk to his mailbox without stopping to catch his breath. Henderson calls him a "pulmonary cripple." Randolph was diagnosed with obstructive lung disease and fibrotic lung disease caused by inhaled fiberglass. The Texas Workers' Compensation Commission adjudicated him totally and permanently disabled because of his condition, and pay his medical bills and a weekly cash stipend.
Randolph has sued the United States' three largest fiberglass manufacturers, Owens Corning, Manville and Certainteed. The case is strong, said Henderson, because Randolph was a hard-working family man with no known exposure to asbestos or any other industrial chemical, and he did not smoke cigarettes.
Randolph had only three employers over 30 years installing fiberglass. He says his employers never warned him fiberglass might be hazardous, and he was never offered a respirator. Fiberglass salesmen came by frequently to take orders. Red Randolph liked to chat with the salesmen, but the salesmen never inquired about Red's work practices or informed him about any potential hazards associated with the products they sold.
Red Randolph never wore a respirator. He knew fiberglass left a bad taste in his mouth, so he chewed on the end of a cheap cigar in order to drown out the taste.
Early in 1993 Randolph noticed a shortness of breath. That prompted him to see a doctor, and that was when he learned-for the very first time-the hazards of breathing respirable glass fibers. In March, 1993, he could no longer breathe well enough to work.
Since then, Randolph's condition has deteriorated; he now uses inhalers frequently and carries a portable oxygen tank. According to Randolph's deposition for the 128th Judicial District in Orange, Texas, doctors are doing the best they can, but only make him "halfway comfortable." He no longer goes to church or participates in the charitable works of the Knights of Columbus. He can no longer work around his home, and relations with his wife are not what they used to be.
"I'm not able to go out and see nobody," Randolph said in his deposition. "I wake up in the morning, take a bath, sit down and watch TV, and that's about it for the day. And then, if I walk anywhere, I go to my mailbox, right back into the house, and that's it."
Randolph's problems seem compounded at night, because, as he told the court reporter and the nine attorneys for the mineral fiber industry present at the deposition, it is nearly impossible for him to breathe when laying down.
Randolph: "I can't sleep at night... When I lay down at night, I have to sit up straight in order to breathe. And they must have got me a hospital bed here about a month ago where I can sit up straight so I can sleep... rest a little bit better. And, I get on my knees. I sleep on my knees at night."
Henderson: "How do you sleep on your knees, sir?
Randolph: I get down on my knees with my head down, and that kind of relieves something in here so I can breathe a little bit. That lasts about an hour... forty-five minutes."
Randolph identified fiberglass insulation products from Owens Corning,
Manville and Certainteed as insulation materials he used throughout his career,
pretty much in equal amounts. Attorneys for all three firms quizzed Randolph
extensively during the deposition about the appearance of the packaging
materials, the color of the insulation and his habit of using cigars to drown
out the taste of fiberglass.
Fiberglass industry attorneys attempted several lines of questioning to link
Randolph's ailments to sources other than fiberglass. They asked if his
commercial insulating experience included any work in power plants or the nearby
Eastman plant, but it did not. Owens Corning attorney Jeff Mundy pursued a
ridiculous line of questioning about remodeling done in the Randolph's home
decades ago.
Mundy: Did they come in and cut out holes in the wall?
Randolph: No, they did not.
Mundy: Did they come in and put in new drywall?
Randolph: They did.
Mundy: Joint stuff?
Randolph: That's right.
Mundy: Did you help with that at all?
Randolph: No, I did not.
Mundy: Pretty messy when they remodel that stuff?
Randolph: It wasn't that messy, because they cleaned up as they went.
Mundy: When they cut the drywall, that can be dusty, true?
Randolph: Yeah, but I wasn't there.
The case contains novel medical and legal issues, noted Attorney Henderson, so it is impossible to predict when it may go to trial.
