Palmerton was built by one company. The New Jersey Zinc Company chose the flat ground below the Lehigh Gap in 1898, opened its West Plant smelter that year and its East Plant in 1911, and laid out the borough around them. For most of the twentieth century, most Palmerton households drew a paycheck from the zinc works. When mesothelioma is diagnosed in one of those households today, the work history usually leads back there. Michael C. Schafle, Esq. represents mesothelioma patients and families across Pennsylvania from his Philadelphia office, including Carbon County.
Asbestos and the zinc works
The Palmerton plants made slab zinc, zinc oxide for paint and rubber, zinc dust and sulfuric acid in furnace and retort operations that ran around the clock. That kind of high-heat industry relied on refractory linings, pipe and boiler insulation, gaskets, packing and heat-resistant protective gear, and through much of the century many of those products contained asbestos. The people who maintained the furnaces, boilers, steam lines and kilns, including bricklayers, pipefitters, millwrights, electricians, boiler operators and laborers, worked closest to those materials. Primary smelting at Palmerton ended in 1980, though the East Plant continued to recycle steel-mill dust on a reduced scale.
A claim is brought against the companies that made and sold the asbestos-containing products, not against the zinc company or its successors. Our index of Pennsylvania asbestos exposure sites shows how the same product manufacturers turn up in heavy industry across the state.
The Superfund history is a different issue
Many Palmerton families know the town from the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund site, listed by the EPA in 1983, and the defoliated slope of Blue Mountain above it. That cleanup concerns zinc, cadmium and lead from the smelters. It is a real part of the town’s history, but it is not evidence of asbestos exposure, and an asbestos claim does not rest on it. What matters for a mesothelioma claim is the work: which plant, which job, which years, and which products.
Why a diagnosis can come decades after the work
Mesothelioma typically appears 20 to 50 years after asbestos exposure, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI asbestos fact sheet). That is why a Palmerton man who left the plant in the 1970s, or a spouse who washed his work clothes, can be diagnosed today. Household exposure from dust carried home is explained on our page about asbestos exposure from washing work clothes.
Deadlines and where a case is filed
Pennsylvania sets a limited time to file, and for asbestos disease the clock generally runs from the diagnosis rather than from the exposure. Separate time limits apply to wrongful death and survival claims after a loved one passes. Palmerton is in Carbon County, whose courthouse is in Jim Thorpe, but venue depends on the defendants and the facts, and many Pennsylvania asbestos cases are heard in Philadelphia’s dedicated asbestos program. The firm reviews those dates and the right court with you at the start; background is on our Pennsylvania statute of limitations page.
Working with a Philadelphia lawyer from Carbon County
Distance changes how a case is handled, not whether it can be. Records are gathered with signed authorizations and subpoenas, much of the work happens by phone and mail, and when a meeting makes sense it can take place at home or at the hospital. Palmerton-area patients are often treated at St. Luke’s Carbon Campus or Lehigh Valley Hospital-Carbon, or at the larger cancer centers in the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia. Attorney Michael Schafle is counsel in the Philadelphia asbestos docket and has been recognized by Pennsylvania Super Lawyers; his background is on his profile page.
Free case review for Palmerton families
Michael Schafle also keeps a site just for Palmerton families, mesotheliomalawyerpalmertonpa.com, with the local exposure history, the deadlines that apply, and the same free case review.
You do not need product names or a complete work history to begin. A diagnosis and a rough outline of where the work happened are enough. The firm will look into it and tell you honestly whether a claim can be built. The first step is a free case review with no obligation. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.