The wife of a man who died from lung cancer is suing 3M Company for her husband’s lung cancer, alleging it was as a result of protective masks that failed to protect him from asbestos exposure.

Frank Zickert died on May 17, 2011 after battling lung cancer diagnosed in June 2010.

3M Company is known for designing, manufacturing and selling masks for personal breathing protection in occupational settings. Zickert used the 3M 8710 mask while working at the Marshfield Plant of Weyerhaeuser Company.

According to the asbestos lawsuit, “Frank’s job involved making asbestos fire doors with material similar to Kaylo that contained chrysotile amosite asbestos fibers, cleanup, and disposal of the waste and scrap from such doors. At certain times the mixing of asbestos fibers to make the cores for the fire doors was a part of the manufacturing process.”

The decedent was careful not to get exposed to asbestos fibers so he used a 3M 8710 mask while working in the mineral core department. The wrongful death lawsuit states that he thought the 3M 8710 mask would prevent exposure to asbestos. Unfortunately, the mask allegedly did not.

The asbestos lawsuit asserts that “all exposures to asbestos that decedent received contributed to and caused the decedent’s asbestos related conditions.”

The asbestos exposure lawsuit contends that the “defendant’s masks were defective and unreasonably dangerous at the time it left the possession or control of defendants” in one or more of the following ways:

• Failed to adequately warn of the health hazards of asbestos which existed when wearing the masks;
• Failed to investigate or test for the effectiveness of the masks in preventing the inhalation of asbestos fibers;
• Failed to instruct Zickert, his employers, or others about the inadequacies of using the masks as precautionary measures against airborne asbestos fibers;
• Defectively designed the masks so they did not adequately protect against or prevent exposure to asbestos fibers;
• Failed to specify or instruct in the proper use of the masks; and
• Withheld information defendant knew showed that the mask did not protect against all asbestos exposure.

The case is Cindy Zickert, Individually and as Special Administrator for the Estate of Frank Zickert, Deceased v. 3M Company, Case No. 3:14-CV-00254-bbc, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.