Deep mining around Pittston effectively ended on January 22, 1959, when the Susquehanna broke into the River Slope Mine at Port Griffith and the Knox disaster closed an era. The men of that era, and the sons who followed them into other trades, are the generation now being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Michael C. Schafle, Esq., a Philadelphia trial lawyer concentrated in asbestos litigation, represents the households of greater Pittston when these claims arise.
After Knox, the work scattered; the exposure did not stop
Pittston’s miners had already spent years around asbestos before the flood: boiler houses, hoist brakes, steam lines, and breaker machinery all depended on it. When the collieries shut, the same men went into construction, factory jobs, the garment shops’ steam plants, and maintenance trades across the valley, where asbestos insulation and components were standard into the 1980s. A Pittston work history often reads as two exposures stacked end to end, and the law lets a claim reach both.
Where the asbestos actually was
It helps families to hear the specifics, because coal itself is not the culprit. Asbestos was in the lagging wrapped around boilers and steam piping, the brake linings on hoisting and haulage equipment, the gaskets and packing in pumps and valves, and the cloth in heat-facing gloves and blankets. Servicing any of it released fibers. The miners occupation page and the Pennsylvania exposure site directory lay out how this evidence is organized statewide. And to be plain about the medicine: mesothelioma is caused primarily by asbestos, not coal dust, and typically appears 20 to 50 years after exposure, per the National Cancer Institute (https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/asbestos/asbestos-fact-sheet). It is not black lung, and black lung benefits do not compensate it.
Claims when a parent has already died
Many Pittston inquiries come from adult children after a funeral. Pennsylvania gives those families two distinct claims: a wrongful death action for the survivors’ own losses and a survival action brought by the estate, under 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 8301-8302, each generally subject to a two-year period from the date of death. Which relatives may file, what an estate must do first, and how proceeds are divided are covered on our wrongful death page. If mesothelioma appears anywhere in a parent’s records, it is worth one call even if the death has passed.
What we need from you: almost nothing
No colliery paperwork survives in most families, and none is expected. The firm reconstructs employment through Social Security itemizations, union and employer archives, and co-worker testimony, then matches the history against products documented in four decades of asbestos litigation. Schafle is counsel in the Philadelphia asbestos docket (In re: Asbestos Litigation, No. 1986-00001) and files each case where venue analysis says it belongs; Luzerne County families never travel for the privilege. In 2023 he resolved two multi-million-dollar mesothelioma settlements. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Trust claims add a second track: many manufacturers reorganized in bankruptcy and now pay through trusts with their own paperwork and schedules, and those filings typically run alongside the lawsuit. Coordinating the two is the firm’s job, not the family’s, and every authorization you sign is explained before you sign it.
What this means for your family
Pittston’s history did the exposing; the legal system’s job is to make the manufacturers answer for it. The window is short once a diagnosis or death starts the clock, so treat the question as urgent even though the exposure is old. Other communities we serve are on the city index.
Tell us the work story once, in a free case review, and we will handle what follows.