Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

According to a recent report in the Insurance Journal, a former Anheuser-Busch employee will have the opportunity to reopen his claim against the company for an asbestos-related lung disease. On May 4, the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed a decision by the New Hampshire Compensation Appeals Board (CAB), which had earlier ruled the man had waited too long to file a complaint.

The former employee, George Gamas, worked at the Anheuser-Busch facility in Merrimack, N.H., for more than 20 years, until 2001. In 2006, he notified the company that he had been diagnosed with asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs that results from asbestos exposure. Asbestos also can cause mesothelioma, a deadly cancer usually affecting the lining of the lungs and, more rarely, the stomach and/or heart.

While the asbestosis complaint was not officially filed until 2006, the Court found that Gamas’ physician had supplied the company with a report of the asbestosis diagnosis on May 23, 2004, and then later, in August 2004, Gamas himself told company representatives in a deposition for a civil suit that he had been diagnosed with asbestosis, related to his work.

The Insurance Journal reports that an Anheuser-Busch environmental safety manager went on record that the company was “put on notice” at the deposition of Gamas’ asbesots claims.

The case has been sent back to the CAB for further review.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.