BELLEVILLE — The estate of an Illinois man who died of lung cancer filed suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court looking for damages from dozens of companies that produced products containing asbestos.
The plaintiff in the case is Lonnie Minton, the son and next of kin to Roy Minton, who died of lung cancer in 2015.
The complaint says the elder Minton "was exposed to and inhaled, ingested or otherwise absorbed large amounts of asbestos fibers, emanating from certain products he was working with and around which were manufactured, sold, distributed or installed by the defendants.’’
The elder Minton served in the Navy from 1948-52 at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago and also served aboard the USS Wisconsin.
From 1956-96, Minton worked as a metal pattern maker at Buckeye Steel Casting and also worked for some time as a laborer at General Motors.
The complaint says Minton also was exposed to asbestos products through his wife Trilby Minton, who worked at Timken, General Motors and Owens Illinois. On March 8, 2015, Roy Minton was diagnosed with lung cancer.
In filing the 10-count complaint, the plaintiffs are looking for damages of at least $50,000 per count.
Among the counts are negligence allegations against the manufacturers; willful and wanton misconduct against the manufacturers; conspiracy against Metropolitan Life Insurance; fraudulent misrepresentation against Owens Illinois and Timken Company; battery against Owens Illinois and Timken Company; intentional infliction of emotional distress count against Owens Illinois and Timken Company; negligence count against manufacturers of respirator products; willful and wanton misconduct against manufacturers of respirator products; negligence spoliation of evidence; and willful and wanton spoliation of evidence.
Filing the complaint for the Minton estate were Edwardsville attorneys Randy Gori and Barry Julian of Gori, Julian & Associates.