Dark Waters movie - is that actually what happened with DuPont and the contamination

Yeah that movie nailed it. And you're spot on about the playbook being the same. I didn't serve on a ship but I was turning wrenches on cars for thirty years, brake pads and clutches, and nobody ever told me what I was breathing in. Found out later that stuff was loaded with asbestos the whole time.

The thing that gets me is the documentation. Like you said, they KNEW. I've seen some of the old brake pad boxes from the 70s and 80s in my case files and there's stuff buried in there showing the manufacturers had test results going back decades. They just kept selling it anyway because the liability was cheaper than switching materials, I guess.

I got diagnosed last December, had my surgery in February and so far so good. But the legal side of it... that's a whole different engine. Takes time. You gotta gather your work history, exposure timeline, medical records, and yeah it's frustrating when you're trying to deal with the actual disease at the same time. But the evidence really does add up if you're patient about it.

Dark Waters is worth watching if you're dealing with this stuff. Shows you it's not some crazy conspiracy theory we're talking about. It's just how big companies operated and a lot of them still do. The difference now is we know what asbestos does so at least we can actually prove what happened to us.

Yeah, the difference is we've got the smoking gun paperwork from the Navy itself. VA's got records showing they knew about asbestos on the ships in the 70s and 80s but nobody briefed us on it. That's what makes the claim easier to prove than some of these civilian cases.

Yeah that's all real. Bilott actually took on DuPont starting in the late 90s and it dragged on forever. The thing about Dark Waters is they actually toned down some of it. The contamination at Parkersburg was worse than what they showed.

But you nailed it on the asbestos angle. Same exact playbook. We had it everywhere on the Oriskany. Pipe insulation, boiler rooms, compartments you'd work in for 8 hour stretches doing maintenance. Nobody told us anything about it. I didn't even know I had pleural meso until June when the VA ran a routine screening. Sixty years after my discharge and that's when it showed up.

The documentation piece is huge. When I went through the legal process after my diagnosis, turns out the Navy had studies going back to the 1930s like you said. They knew. Shipbuilders knew. Manufacturers knew. All documented. That's what matters in these cases. Not what people remember or what they claim they told you. The paper trail.

My advice if you're looking at a case, get copies of everything. Service records, employment records, medical records. We got ours pulled together by August 2025 and that's what made the difference. The lawyers can work with actual documents. They can't work with vague memories.

It's not quick. My pleurectomy was in August and I'm still doing followup stuff. But yeah the evidence adds up if it's there.

Yeah, that parallel is spot on. My dad's case has the same vibe where you dig through decades of internal memos and suddenly there's a 1952 memo saying "yeah we know this stuff causes cancer" and they just... kept using it anyway.

Yeah that movie nails it. Dark Waters is pretty much what went down, Bilott really did take those guys on and it was a grind. The PFOA thing in West Virginia is real and yeah, same playbook we're seeing with asbestos. Knew it, hid it, kept making money.

I'm at Stage II pleural right now, diagnosed October last year after a cough that wouldn't quit. Got exposed at Camp Lejeune 1978 to 1982 in those barracks that were basically wrapped in asbestos insulation, plus time on the Iwo Jima. Filed my VA claim in November and I'm still waiting on them to move. Had surgery in December to get what they could out of my chest.

The documentation angle is huge. There's stuff from the 1930s showing they knew. The Navy knew. Manufacturers knew. But getting companies to actually admit it and pay for it takes exactly what you saw in that movie, which is years of evidence and pressure. My case is still early but I've already got my medical records from the surgery and the exposure history locked down. That matters.

One thing I'll say about the VA side of this, don't wait on them if you've got military exposure. Get a civilian doctor to document everything separate from the VA process. I wish I'd done that sooner. The VA moves at its own speed and meanwhile you need actual treatment lined up.

The anger part of this is real. They knew and they just let it happen to us. But channeling that into getting your case solid is what counts now.

Yeah, that movie actually tracks pretty closely with what happened. The PFOA case is real and you're right about the parallels. I've been doing a lot of reading on this stuff since my diagnosis last month and the pattern is almost identical with asbestos. Companies had internal memos going back decades showing they knew the health risks. Johns-Manville, which is where I worked from 78 to 85, literally had studies in the 1930s documenting the dangers and they just... kept operating like nothing was wrong.

What gets me is the timeline. DuPont's PFOA contamination took years to litigate and even then most people affected didn't see settlements until way later. With mesothelioma you're looking at a similar lag. I was exposed over forty years ago and didn't get diagnosed until last November. By then the company's already calculated that most of us will die before we can pursue anything substantial. It's morbid but that's the actual math they're working with.

The documentation angle you mentioned is huge though. I've been requesting my employment records and any medical screening stuff from the plant and there's actually more on file than you'd expect. Some of it's surprising in how explicit they were about knowing. It doesn't necessarily make the legal side easier but it does show intent, which apparently matters a lot.

If you're looking at a case just make sure whoever you talk to has experience with occupational exposure specifically. The PFOA settlements took so long partly because it was environmental contamination affecting the general public. Occupational cases can actually move faster because the exposure pathway is clearer. That's what I'm learning anyway as I'm evaluating HIPEC surgery options and trying to figure out the legal side simultaneously.