An Ohio woman diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma is blaming IBM for her illness.
Loretta R. Simpson, 74, of Toledo, accused Armonk-based IBM of negligence, in a complaint filed on June 10 in Westchester Supreme Court.
Simpson contends that from 1968 to 2002 she was exposed to asbestos in IBM Selectric typewriters and computers that caused the cancer that was diagnosed last year.
She frequently breathed in asbestos fibers and dust from the IBM equipment, according to the complaint, and it can take from 10 to 50 years for cancer to appear.
Asbestos was used as a heat and fire resistant material in consumer products, building materials and auto parts in the 20th Century. Then scientist linked the substance to health risks, such as mesothelioma, a cancer that forms around the lungs and other organs.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 2,669 new cases of mesothelioma in 2022. And 2,127 people died from the disease in 2023.
Simpson says she used IBM Selectric typewriters when she worked as a typist for Travelers Insurance, from 1969 to 1970. She continued using IBM typewriters and computers when she worked as a stenographer and accounting clerk for the City of Toledo, from 1970 to 2002.
IBM should have known that its products were dangerous, the complaint states, yet it failed to warn people about the dangers, advise people how to avoid the risks, use safer materials, or remove products with asbestos from the market.
The complaint does not specify exactly where or how much asbestos was used in the IBM products. Nor does it say how Simpson’s alleged exposure to asbestos can be differentiated from other possible sources, such as old building materials at work or home, industrial sites near her home or secondary exposure from other people.
IBM did not reply to a message, asking for its responses to the allegations.
Simpson is demanding “compensatory and punitive damages to the highest extent permitted by law.”
She is represented by Manhattan attorney Suzanne M. Ratcliffe. Her firm, Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd, litigates mesothelioma cases exclusively and has sued IBM several times in the past few years.
