Capco Pipe Company, Inc.
Capco Pipe Company, Inc., is based in Birmingham, Alabama. Capco is a subsidiary of a New York-based mining company, American Smelting and Refining Company, which once operated the largest silver mines in the United States. The company operated asbestos mines in Canada for decades to supply its subsidiaries with asbestos.
Capco Pipe Company produced piping for numerous industrial and commercial uses. They produced asbestos cement pipes called “Permaflex.” Asbestos was used because it was resistant to corrosive fluids. Thus, the employees of Capco who built the pipes and the construction workers who installed Capco asbestos cement pipes were placed in grave danger.
As early as the 1920s, physicians recognized that exposure to asbestos caused severe sickness when asbestosis was identified by British medical journals. Illnesses, such as asbestosis and the aggressive cancer mesothelioma, are caused by exposure to asbestos. At the same time, insurance companies in the United States and Canada stopped selling life insurance to asbestos workers. Moreover, safer substitutes for most asbestos uses were known as early as the 1930s. Nevertheless, Capco chose to protect its substantial profit margins rather than discontinue use of the mineral.
Additionally, the asbestos fibers remain in a person’s lungs for years and symptoms may not develop for decades. Thus, Capco’s victims might live for decades without knowing of the deadly injury they sustained.
Capco Pipe Company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005. As part of Capco’s restructuring, the court ordered the company to form a trust to compensate the victim’s whom Capco exposed to asbestos. If you or a loved one has been injured by Capco Pipe Company, it is important that you contact The Gori Law Firm immediately for more information on your rights.