So I'm sitting here thinking about this because obviously I got exposed at the Ford plant in Dearborn back in the 70s through the 80s doing brake work, and I'm wondering if I can go after them or if that ship sailed already.
From what I've been reading and talking to a couple lawyers, it's kinda complicated. You can sue them but there's some catches. One is the statute of limitations, which in Michigan is three years from diagnosis not from when you actually got exposed, which is good news for guys like me who didn't know about this stuff for decades. Another thing is workers comp might have already paid you something, and that can mess with what you can claim.
The tricky part is a lot of these old companies either don't exist anymore or they went bankrupt, which is why there's these trust funds set up. I think Ford is still around so that's different, but a lot of the smaller brake pad makers from back then are gone. My exposure came from Bendix pads mostly and I don't even know if that company is still operating.
I talked to a couple attorneys and they were pretty straight with me. They said I could probably file something but the real money might be more from the trust funds than suing Ford directly because of how these cases work. One guy spent like an hour on the phone with me for free just explaining the whole thing.
Anyway I'm not gonna lie, part of me wants to go after them just because they knew about this stuff and didn't warn us or give us proper equipment, but I'm also trying not to get my hopes up too high. The lawyers seemed interested though which I guess is a good sign.