Asbestos: a Quebecer obtains gause in the United States
Sandra Ohayon lost a lung after developing mesothelioma. His claim for compensation was refused by the CSST.
For lack of being able to obtain compensation for their ills in Quebec, asbestos victims turned to the United States.
Sandra Ohayon took this route without really believing it a few years ago after having survived "by a miracle" a mesothelioma which cost her her right lung.
“It was my brother who called me after seeing an ad about it. I was very skeptical at the beginning, ”relates in an interview this former employee of the University of Montreal.
The 60-year-old woman later discovered with surprise that she had been awarded a sum of $ 22,000 by a Texas-based firm. “I also received $ 5,000 from another company,” says Ms. Ohayon.
The announcement behind this surprising windfall was broadcast by a major US law firm, Motley Rice, which regularly launches media campaigns to identify potential asbestos victims.
Its representatives target, on behalf of the victims thus recruited, American companies that have used the carcinogenic material in their products. Several of them have set up compensation funds which make it possible to limit the multiplication of long and costly recourse to the courts.
One of the most important funds is that of Johns Manville, which was one of the key players in the development of the asbestos industry in North America. In its most recent report, the organization responsible for managing the fund notes that a total of 4.3 billion has been paid over the years.
A lawyer involved in the management of the fund, Jared Garelick, points out that applicants must demonstrate the existence of an asbestos-related disease as well as their exposure to the products of the targeted firm.
The fund treats requests from Canada like those from US nationals because Johns Manville "had large-scale operations" in the country, Garelick explains.
The lawyer said he was unable to specify how many Canadians or Quebeckers had been compensated. "I'm not sure I would give you the figure if I had it," he said.
According to him, there are more than fifty asbestos-related compensation funds in the United States.
In Ms. Ohayon's case, the money came from a fund set up by a company called National Gypsum.
A lawyer for Motley Rice, Anne Kearse, in South Carolina, refused to approach, for reasons of confidentiality, the file of the Quebecer. However, she explained that in order to obtain compensation, it was necessary to demonstrate a link between the victim and the products of the firm concerned.
“Over the years, we have compiled a list of products from American firms that have been sold in Canada as well as a list of places where they have been used,” she explains.
Ms. Ohayon is convinced that she was exposed to asbestos during a 20-year period during which she worked at the University of Montreal, an establishment that carried out extensive asbestos removal work.
Her attending physician, certain that she had been a victim of the carcinogenic product, wrote a letter to this effect to the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) but the claim for compensation was refused.
“They told me, after several examinations, that I had no trace of asbestos in my fabrics. But if so, where did my mesothelioma come from? ”Asks Ms. Ohayon, who had given up, for lack of resources and support, to appeal her case.
"On the American side, it seems that my file is clear," she said.
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