Horrifying really. My old law firm used to be defense council for a major insurance company that represented one of the major railroads. Mesothelioma is absolutely vicious. On the other side, the cottage industry (mansion?) that sprang up around asbestos litigation is truly a marvel to behold. We would get inundated with calls by asbestos-mobiles, -lab trucks that would literally drive on up, test for asbestos, and if found refer the findings to you for litigation. You just had to say "defense counsel" to get them to hang up instantly, but it amazed me how well oiled the machine is. My brother works for a very large global auto-supplier that just came out of bankruptcy that was due to asbestos litigation. They failed to do due diligence and bought some plants overseas that used to manufacture it apparently, many decades ago. Part of a rapid global expansion. The trail lawyers went for the throat after the acquisitions.
It should be noted that this isn't actually news. The article is from May 2008.