Billings, MontanaBillings Toxic Exposure
Billings Toxic Exposure Lawyers: Asbestos, Mesothelioma, Asbestosis and Chemical Exposure Claims in Yellowstone County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you or a family member in Billings has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer or another illness caused by a toxic exposure, you may have a claim against the companies that made, supplied or failed to control the substance. Asbestos diseases often appear 20 years or more after exposure, and Montana’s discovery rule can help, but the clock may start once you suspect the connection.
Diagnosed with an asbestos disease, or worried an exposure made you sick? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Why is asbestos still a concern in Billings?
Montana’s asbestos history is public. For most of the last century, a vermiculite mine near Libby, operated by the Zonolite Company and later W.R. Grace until 1990, produced vermiculite contaminated with a toxic form of asbestos known as Libby Amphibole. The EPA reports that Libby Amphibole causes lung cancer, mesothelioma and other lung diseases, and in 2009 the EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services declared a Public Health Emergency in Libby (EPA, Libby Asbestos Site).
Libby vermiculite went into homes far from Libby. According to the EPA, the Libby mine was the source of over 70% of all vermiculite sold in the United States from 1919 to 1990, much of it sold as Zonolite attic insulation. The EPA’s advice is direct: if you have vermiculite insulation, assume it contains asbestos and do not disturb it (EPA). Many of Billings’ older neighborhoods have homes built during those decades.
Older industrial and commercial buildings. Billings grew up around the railroad, refining, sugar processing, power generation and a downtown full of mid-century commercial buildings, schools and hospitals. Pipe insulation, boiler lagging, gaskets, floor tile, roofing, joint compound and fireproofing in buildings and plants of that era often contained asbestos. Workers in refineries, rail shops, power plants and the building trades, and the family members who washed their work clothes, carry the highest risk.
Remodeling and demolition. Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality requires an inspection by a Montana-accredited asbestos inspector before renovation or demolition of regulated facilities, and a permit when asbestos-containing material above set thresholds will be disturbed. Single-family homes and buildings with four or fewer units are exempt from those requirements (Montana DEQ Asbestos Control Program). That exemption is one reason homeowners, tenants and small contractors can be exposed during a Billings remodel without anyone testing first.
What are the asbestos diseases?
- Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen that is closely associated with asbestos exposure.
- Asbestosis, scarring of the lung tissue that makes breathing progressively harder.
- Lung cancer, especially when exposure is combined with other risk factors.
- Pleural disease, including pleural plaques and thickening.
All of them have a long latency: the disease typically appears decades after the exposure. That is why a claim often begins with reconstructing a work and home history from 20, 30 or 40 years ago: employers, job sites, products used, and where the family lived.
What happens after an asbestos diagnosis in Billings?
- Get the diagnosis documented. Pathology, imaging and your physician’s notes about occupational and home exposure are central evidence.
- Write down your exposure history: every job, job site, product brand, and home you remember, and who you worked with.
- Keep records, such as union cards, pay stubs, Social Security earnings statements and photographs.
- Report a workplace exposure to your employer and file a workers’ compensation claim on time. Workers’ compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (§ 39-71-411, MCA); we do not handle that claim, but we pursue the third parties.
- Talk to a lawyer promptly. Mesothelioma often moves quickly, and testimony from the person who was exposed is some of the most valuable evidence in the case.
Claims against asbestos product manufacturers, suppliers and premises owners are third-party claims that workers’ compensation does not bar (§ 39-71-412, MCA). A state lawsuit is filed in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). Many defendants are national companies, and some cases are heard in the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court (District of Montana). Some former asbestos manufacturers went through bankruptcy and now pay claims through trusts, which have their own filing rules.
What about other chemical exposures?
Asbestos is not the only toxic exposure in an industrial county. Benzene and petroleum products at refineries and fuel terminals, solvents in shops, pesticides on farms in the Yellowstone Valley, carbon monoxide from defective heaters, and contaminated groundwater can all support claims. The proof is the same: what the substance was, how much exposure, and qualified medical and scientific testimony that it can cause, and did cause, the illness.
Montana law that applies
- Strict liability for a defective, unreasonably dangerous product (§ 27-1-719, MCA); a manufacturer cannot defend by saying no one knew the danger at the time (Sternhagen v. Dow Co., 935 P.2d 1139 (Mont. 1997)).
- Discovery rule: for self-concealing injuries, the deadline does not begin until the facts are discovered or reasonably should have been (§ 27-2-102(3), MCA).
- Deadlines: generally 3 years for injury and wrongful death (§ 27-2-204, MCA); the 10-year product repose statute has an exception for latent respiratory diseases and malignancies in claims against the manufacturer (§ 27-1-719(6)(b)).
See our Montana toxic exposure page for more on causation and contamination claims.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
Toxic exposure cases are won with science and preparation, not local connections. We are based in Great Falls and handle exposure cases statewide. Our attorneys travel to Billings to meet clients at home or in the hospital, take depositions, attend hearings and try cases, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We build exposure cases with science. We handle asbestos exposure cases, including claims arising from decades-old exposure, and we assemble the testing and scientific evidence they require.
- We try cases. More than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We know federal court. More than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years; Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
- We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
Related Billings pages: wrongful death · workplace injury · all Billings cases
Frequently Asked Questions
I worked in Billings refineries or rail shops decades ago and now have mesothelioma. Is it too late? Not necessarily. Asbestos diseases appear decades after exposure, and Montana’s discovery rule and the latent-disease exception to product repose can preserve a claim. Call promptly after diagnosis.
My Billings house has vermiculite insulation in the attic. What should I do? The EPA says to assume it contains asbestos and not to disturb it. If you plan to remodel, hire accredited asbestos professionals.
Can I sue my employer for asbestos exposure? Generally not; workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy against the employer. But you may have claims against the manufacturers and suppliers of the asbestos products and the owners of the sites where you worked.
My spouse washed my work clothes and got sick. Does she have a claim? Possibly. Household exposure from work clothing can support a claim against the companies responsible for the asbestos.
Where would my asbestos case be filed? In the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Billings, or in the federal court’s Billings Division, depending on the defendants.
Talk to a Billings Toxic Exposure Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
