Can a Kingston family still bring an asbestos claim when the collieries closed generations ago? Yes. Mesothelioma is diagnosed 20 to 50 years after exposure, and Pennsylvania law starts the filing clock at diagnosis, not at the last shift. Philadelphia trial lawyer Michael C. Schafle, Esq. handles these cases across the state and represents Wyoming Valley residents and the estates of those who have died.
Asbestos in the anthracite industry
Kingston sits across the Susquehanna from Wilkes-Barre, in the heart of the northern anthracite field. Coal work is remembered for coal dust, but the industry was full of asbestos in places miners rarely thought about. Hoist and haulage brakes were asbestos. The boiler houses that powered the breakers and pumps were lined with asbestos insulation. Steam lines, valve packing, and gaskets carried it through every engine house and washery. Men who repaired that equipment, and men who simply worked near it, inhaled the fibers along with everything else in the air.
Our miners page covers the occupation in detail, and the Pennsylvania exposure site directory puts the anthracite region alongside the state’s other documented industrial histories.
Black lung and mesothelioma are different diseases with different claims
Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis is caused by coal dust and is handled through the federal black lung benefits system. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen, and asbestos exposure is its primary cause, per the National Cancer Institute (https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/asbestos/asbestos-fact-sheet). A black lung award does not compensate mesothelioma, and having one claim does not block the other. The asbestos case is brought against the manufacturers of the products, which is why it can proceed even though the coal companies themselves are long gone.
The second generation has claims of its own
Many Kingston cases are not the miner’s. They belong to the son who spent two summers underground before a career in the building trades, or the wife who laundered dusty work clothes for thirty years. Household and short-duration exposures have supported Pennsylvania verdicts and settlements, and they deserve the same investigation as a forty-year work history.
Filing from Luzerne County
Nothing about this process requires you to leave the valley. Schafle practices from Philadelphia, where he is counsel in the asbestos docket of the Court of Common Pleas (In re: Asbestos Litigation, No. 1986-00001), and he files each case where the defendants and the law give it the most strength, which is a decision made on the facts rather than on geography. Records are subpoenaed and collected by the firm. Meetings happen by phone or in your home. If the patient’s health is declining, testimony is preserved early.
When the person who was exposed has already passed away, Pennsylvania allows wrongful death and survival actions, generally within two years of death. Who may file, and how the recovery is shared, is explained on our wrongful death page.
What this means for your family
The anthracite industry left the Wyoming Valley with more history than paperwork, and that is fine: these cases are built from litigation archives, product records, co-worker testimony, and union and Social Security records that the firm assembles. Schafle resolved two multi-million-dollar mesothelioma settlements in 2023. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. What we ask from you is a conversation, not a filing cabinet. The city index shows the other Pennsylvania communities we cover.
The review itself asks little of you. Come with names, places, and years as you remember them; uncertainty is expected, and firming up what memory leaves loose is the firm’s work, not yours. Start with a free case review; one call is enough to tell you whether a claim is worth pursuing.