Allentown mesothelioma cases usually trace back to one of two workplaces: the Mack Trucks operations that made the city a truck-building capital, or the cement plants strung along the Lehigh Valley. Compensation is available through asbestos lawsuits and bankruptcy trust claims, and Michael C. Schafle, Esq., a Philadelphia trial lawyer who is counsel on the Philadelphia asbestos docket, handles these cases throughout Pennsylvania, including Lehigh County.
Asbestos exposure in truck manufacturing and repair: A hidden risk for assembly workers and mechanics
For most of the twentieth century, heavy trucks were assembled with components containing asbestos: brake linings, clutch facings, and engine gaskets, among others. Workers who machined, ground, installed, or replaced those parts could release respirable fibers, and the compressed air used to blow out dust during service work could do so as well. Assembly line workers, mechanics, and parts handlers from the region’s truck plants and dealerships all fit this exposure pattern.
Asbestos exposure at Lehigh Valley cement plants
The Lehigh Valley’s cement industry ran on kilns, and kilns ran hot. High-temperature equipment of that era was routinely insulated with asbestos, and some finished products also incorporated asbestos fiber. Plant laborers, kiln repairmen, and the pipefitters and masons who maintained the equipment are the workers we look at first. Bethlehem Steel’s enormous home plant sat a few miles down the valley, and plenty of Allentown residents worked there, too; our Bethlehem Steel exposure page covers that facility, and the full Pennsylvania exposure sites index lists others in the region.
Asbestos and Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations for filing a claim
Asbestos disease is slow. According to the National Cancer Institute, mesothelioma can take decades to appear after exposure (NCI asbestos fact sheet). A machinist who left Mack years ago can still be diagnosed today, and the law accounts for that: Pennsylvania’s filing clock generally starts at discovery of the illness, not at the exposure itself (42 Pa. C.S. § 5524). The details are on our statute of limitations page.
What an Allentown claim can include
- A lawsuit against the manufacturers of the asbestos products involved
- Claims with asbestos bankruptcy trusts, which the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported hold billions set aside for victims
- Wrongful death and survival actions when the diagnosis has already taken a life
Most cases combine more than one of these. Sorting out which products were present in which building, in which years, is exactly the kind of work an asbestos practice exists to do.
How representation works from Philadelphia
Michael Schafle’s office is in Philadelphia, about an hour from the Lehigh Valley, and he has served as counsel in that city’s dedicated asbestos program since building his practice there. Venue for an Allentown case gets decided on the facts of that case; exposure location, defendant identity, and procedural rules all matter, so no one should assume a case will be filed in any particular county before the record is built. Other Pennsylvania cities he serves are listed in the city index.
The practical next step for your household
Write down the job history while memories are fresh: employers, buildings, trades, and the names of coworkers who might remember the products in use. That list becomes the backbone of the claim, and gathering it costs nothing. When it exists, even in rough form, a lawyer can quickly evaluate the case.
Request a free case review, and the evaluation starts within a day.