MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast

Texas Asbestos Exposure: Refineries, Legal History & One Family's Story

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Texas Asbestos Exposure: Refineries, Legal History & One Family's Story


Episode Description

Six of the top oil refineries in the United States are located in Texas—and refinery workers, construction crews, and even their families have paid the price with mesothelioma diagnoses decades later.

In this episode of MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast, host Dave Foster—Executive Director of patient advocacy at Danziger & De Llano with 18 years of experience helping mesothelioma families—sits down with Rod De Llano, Founding Partner with 25 years of mesothelioma litigation experience, and Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate whose father died of mesothelioma in 1999 after 22 years of refinery work in Pasadena, Texas.

Together, they cover:

  • Why Texas ranks among the top three states for mesothelioma cases—alongside California and Florida—due to refineries, shipyards, and petrochemical plants concentrated along the Gulf Coast
  • The hidden danger of drilling mud: asbestos-containing drilling fluids exposed roughnecks and oil field workers until approximately 1985
  • Secondary exposure patterns: how wives and children developed mesothelioma 30+ years after breathing fibers from workers' clothing
  • How asbestos litigation began in the 1980s and led to approximately 35 trust funds now compensating victims and families
  • Larry's personal story: watching his healthy, athletic father go from active to gone in just 6 months after his 1999 diagnosis
  • Why Texas law changes in 2003 made it harder to file mesothelioma cases in the state—and where cases are filed now

Whether you're a refinery worker, construction tradesperson, military veteran stationed in Texas, or a family member seeking answers about a loved one's exposure, this episode explains the industries, timelines, and legal landscape that shaped Texas asbestos cases.

Resources:

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast — Episode 8

Texas Asbestos Exposure: Refineries, Legal History, and a Family's Story

Host: Dave Foster, Executive Director of Patient Advocacy at Danziger & De Llano (18+ years helping mesothelioma families)

Guests:

  • Rod De Llano, Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano — Princeton University (Economics), University of Texas School of Law (honors); 25+ years of mesothelioma litigation experience
  • Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate at Danziger & De Llano — whose father died of mesothelioma in 1999 after 22 years of refinery work

Key Takeaways

  • Texas ranks among the top three states for mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer cases, alongside California and Florida, due to heavy concentration of refineries, shipyards, and petrochemical plants.
  • Six of the top oil refineries in the United States are located in Texas, concentrated along the Gulf Coast in Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi.
  • Refinery workers faced exposure through multiple trades: insulation work, pipe fitting, machinist work, and even non-trade workers present during construction or maintenance.
  • Secondary exposure affected wives and children of refinery workers who carried asbestos fibers home on their clothing.
  • Drilling mud used in oil and gas wells contained asbestos until approximately 1985, exposing roughnecks and anyone working near drilling operations.
  • Asbestos litigation began in the 1980s and intensified after Johns-Manville filed for bankruptcy and established compensation trust funds.
  • Approximately 35 asbestos trust funds currently exist to compensate victims and families affected by asbestos-related diseases.
  • Texas law changes in 2003 made filing mesothelioma cases in the state more difficult, leading many attorneys to file in other jurisdictions.
  • Warning labels on asbestos products were supposed to appear after OSHA regulations in the 1970s, but many manufacturers delayed compliance until the 1980s.
  • Mesothelioma latency period meant Larry's father developed symptoms at age 81—decades after his 22-year career at the refinery ended.

Full Episode Transcript

Introduction

DAVE FOSTER: You're listening to MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast, where support, education, and outreach come together for families facing mesothelioma.

Hi, it's Dave Foster again. I wanted to welcome everybody to our MESO podcast that we've been doing for the last couple of weeks. I have two special guests today: Larry Gates, whose father was diagnosed with mesothelioma and went through the whole legal and medical process—very traumatic, probably on both sides—and Rod De Llano, who's one of the founding partners of Danziger & De Llano, one of the largest mesothelioma firms in the country.

I thought Rod could weigh in a little bit on what kinds of cases we have in Texas, what kinds of cases you see. I know there's a lot of different industries here that may affect that. Rod, if you could just go over the types of cases that you've seen over the years from Texas exposure?

Why Does Texas Have So Many Mesothelioma Cases?

ROD DE LLANO: Texas is obviously a huge state, so we get basically every type of mesothelioma case there is. But given the concentration of the petrochemical industry in the Gulf area—which includes Corpus Christi, Houston, and Beaumont—you have that collection of plants. So we get a lot of refinery and petrochemical workers that did all kinds of work: insulation, pipe fitting, machinist work. Even people that weren't doing any of the trades—if they were inside the building when the other trades were working, they would be exposed to asbestos.

That used to be the primary source of exposure for Texas workers. And out of that, you get secondary exposure—the wives and children of these guys who worked in the plants. They bring the asbestos home on their clothes, and that becomes airborne. Unfortunately, one of the family members would breathe that in, and then 30 years later, they would get mesothelioma.

Like I said, Texas is a huge state, so you're going to get every type of exposure there is. But in the early days, most of the asbestos litigation revolved around what I just described.

DAVE FOSTER: I pulled up online and was looking at all the refineries in the U.S.—the top six oil refineries in the country right now are in Texas. In the cities and ports you just mentioned. So that's kind of fascinating. The petrochemical capital of the world.

What other types of industries might they have here? Obviously the shipyards, the maritime workers, and that sort of thing. What about construction in Texas?

Asbestos in Texas Construction and Building Materials

ROD DE LLANO: Any kind of building back in the day, they would have used asbestos products. They used it in the insulation, in the roofs, in the ceilings, in the drywall, in the carpets even, back then. So when all of those trades were going on, whoever was in there—if you were a painter, you didn't typically use asbestos paint, but you would have been exposed to asbestos from the drywall.

Anybody involved in the construction trade before 1978 would have been exposed to asbestos. And since Texas is a large state with a lot of building going on back in those days and even today, any construction worker would likely have been exposed to asbestos if they were working pre-1980.

DAVE FOSTER: I was looking at the stats—Texas, Florida, and California are the three top states. And it makes sense from a population perspective. For developing lung cancer, asbestos lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Does that surprise you at all?

ROD DE LLANO: Not really. Particularly given the concentration of industry in Texas. I would think it would be fairly proportional to the population, but more so just because we had a lot of heavy industry centered around plants and refineries and shipyards.

Military Base Exposure in Texas

DAVE FOSTER: What about military bases? There's a lot of military bases. Was there a lot of exposure on those in the state of Texas?

ROD DE LLANO: There's a lot of military bases in Texas, but not that many naval bases. The primary exposures in the military were in the Navy—on Navy ships and when they were fixing those ships. In Texas, you have a lot of Army and Air Force bases.

Insulation was used in airplanes and jets the entire time. People that were mechanics on jets would have been exposed to asbestos. In the Army, you have different trades, particularly mechanics. They would have gone through school in the Army and worked on jeeps and other vehicles that had asbestos brakes, and they would have been exposed.

Then you had the insulation in the barracks. That goes for both the Air Force and Army bases. The barracks had insulation, and they would work on that. A lot of Army troops were exposed to asbestos.

Oil and Gas Industry: Drilling Mud Exposure

DAVE FOSTER: The oil and gas industry is big in Texas. What kind of exposures would they have in that industry?

ROD DE LLANO: Any kind of petrochemical plant—people would have likely been exposed to asbestos. The other source of exposure is people that worked in the drilling of wells, because they used drilling mud. Up until I think 1985, the drilling muds contained asbestos in them. It may even go further.

Any roughneck that was using drilling mud—and drilling mud becomes very dusty very quickly—if they inhaled that, they would have been inhaling asbestos fibers. You don't even have to be a roughneck. If you're around it, you're going to breathe it in.

Larry Gates: A Son's Story of His Father's Mesothelioma

DAVE FOSTER: Larry, your dad worked at a refinery. What did he do there? Tell us a little bit about your experience with this.

LARRY GATES: We grew up in Pasadena, Texas, and that's where a lot of the refineries are—right up and down the ship channel there, right off of 225.

My dad was an instrument man in a refinery for 22 years. He started with the refinery probably in the early 1950s. He was in World War II and got on with the refinery after that. Started out as a chemical operator, then they moved him into fixing the instruments all over the plant. He would climb towers. He was always over in various portions of the plant all day long—heavily exposed to asbestos all throughout the plant.

He became sick in 1999 and was gone six months after he was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma.

DAVE FOSTER: Did he know he was exposed to asbestos? Did he ever talk about that?

LARRY GATES: I don't think he was aware. The asbestos manufacturers knew of the dangers, but they didn't warn the workers. He worked for the refinery for 22 years.

He was the kind of guy that was an athlete. Very active man. Wasn't sick a day in his life until finally, at age 81, he started getting shortness of breath. Extremely fatigued. He couldn't even walk out to the mailbox to get the mail anymore without having to stop and rest.

Still didn't want to go to the doctor. But my mother had had enough and made him go. He actually had mesothelioma a few months before they discovered it. After they discovered pleural mesothelioma, he withered away.

If you've ever seen your loved one—your father, your mother—be a healthy individual and then see them as a human skeleton, basically... it was not a good thing to see.

What Protection Did Workers Have in the 1970s?

DAVE FOSTER: Rod, what was going on? So in 1972, he probably wasn't wearing any PPE, right? No personal protection equipment or anything?

LARRY GATES: No, his protection was a hard hat. That's it.

The History of Asbestos Litigation

DAVE FOSTER: Rod, what was going on in the litigation? When did all this start?

ROD DE LLANO: I believe the litigation started in the 1980s. It started up in Texas with some pretty big cases. It was an uphill battle. But once they got that first verdict against an insulating company, the litigation really ramped up.

I don't know the exact year Johns-Manville filed for bankruptcy, but Johns-Manville was sort of the main maker of asbestos insulation. The Johns-Manville Company still exists, but that was the year they filed for bankruptcy—and really when the litigation got going.

When Larry's dad was exposed, there really wasn't much litigation. That started in the 80s and then the 90s. And here we are in 2026—it's still going on because of the long-term tail of asbestos.

DAVE FOSTER: Initially, the companies probably did like the cigarette industry—they didn't take responsibility for it, I'm assuming. At what point was it Johns-Manville that started the domino effect?

ROD DE LLANO: I wouldn't say that any of them have taken responsibility for it. Most companies fight this tooth and nail. But once Johns-Manville filed for bankruptcy and emerged from bankruptcy—that typically takes years—as part of that reorganization, they set up a trust fund. That trust fund's purpose is to compensate people with asbestos-related injuries, primarily mesothelioma.

How Many Asbestos Trust Funds Exist Today?

DAVE FOSTER: How many trusts are there out there right now?

ROD DE LLANO: I lose track. I think there's about 35 trusts. Some pay very little amounts and some pay fair amounts, but nothing that is fair enough for a person or family member who's lost a father or mother to mesothelioma. The money's not going to compensate them truly.

When Did Warning Labels Appear on Asbestos Products?

DAVE FOSTER: When did the companies or the asbestos manufacturers start putting warning labels on products?

ROD DE LLANO: That would have been in the 80s as well. Well, after OSHA, they were supposed to start warning. They were supposed to stop using asbestos products in most building materials. The warning labels—they may have been on way before 1985. You see some of the signs, "Dangerous Asbestos," that sort of thing. A lot of that would have been happening in the 80s.

DAVE FOSTER: I actually thought it was happening in the 70s. So it was a little later than that.

ROD DE LLANO: It should have happened in the 70s. Some people did. But a lot of people didn't.

When Did Danziger & De Llano Begin Handling Asbestos Cases?

DAVE FOSTER: When did your firm start getting involved in this?

ROD DE LLANO: In 2001.

DAVE FOSTER: And what did you initially start doing?

ROD DE LLANO: We started off representing people who had mainly asbestosis. Those were people diagnosed through pulmonary tests and X-rays. Then that later led into people with lung cancer and mesothelioma. So almost 25 years later, here we are still doing that.

DAVE FOSTER: Has it been something you've enjoyed doing?

ROD DE LLANO: I've enjoyed representing people that need help and helping them get compensation. Yes.

A Case That Made a Difference

DAVE FOSTER: Give us an example of one of your clients you remember—the outcome and all of that. One particular person you feel like you really helped.

ROD DE LLANO: I try to take pride in everybody. It's hard to narrow it down to one person.

There was one fellow—an interesting case. He thought he had mesothelioma. We researched it and ordered the medical records, but they couldn't confirm mesothelioma. He had a feeling, but we couldn't prove he had mesothelioma, so we couldn't go forward with the case.

He'd keep regular contact with me. I always encouraged him to go to the doctor. About a year later, he called and said, "Rod, guess what?" I said, "What?" He said, "I have mesothelioma."

I was really sorry to hear that. I felt bad. We filed the case immediately and were able to get compensation for his family. He didn't make it through. But it's interesting that he had what he thought was mesothelioma, but we couldn't get a diagnosis initially.

Why Texas Law Makes Filing Mesothelioma Cases Difficult

DAVE FOSTER: You used to file a lot of cases in Texas. You don't file as many here now, right?

ROD DE LLANO: Very few cases are filed in Texas anymore because of the law. When I got started, we filed most of the cases in Texas—even if they weren't Texans. That all changed in 2003 with a change of law. Particularly harsh laws that are very unfair to the workers and family members. So now we file in other jurisdictions.

Closing

DAVE FOSTER: Well, Rod, I know we captured you at the last second and you've got to run, but we want to thank you for being here. And Larry, thank you for sharing your story. Hopefully we'll get you guys back on the show later again.

ROD DE LLANO: All right. Thanks.

LARRY GATES: Thanks, guys. Bye-bye now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Texas have so many mesothelioma cases?

Texas ranks among the top three states for mesothelioma cases due to its concentration of high-exposure industries. Six of the top oil refineries in the United States are located along the Texas Gulf Coast in Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi. The state also has extensive shipyards, petrochemical plants, military bases, and construction activity—all industries where workers were heavily exposed to asbestos before safety regulations took effect.

What industries in Texas caused the most asbestos exposure?

The primary sources of asbestos exposure in Texas include refineries and petrochemical plants (affecting insulators, pipe fitters, machinists, and general workers), the oil and gas drilling industry (through asbestos-containing drilling mud used until 1985), construction trades (through asbestos in insulation, roofing, ceilings, drywall, and carpets), shipyards and maritime work, and military bases (particularly Air Force jet mechanics and Army vehicle mechanics working with asbestos brakes).

What is secondary asbestos exposure?

Secondary asbestos exposure occurs when family members of workers who handled asbestos are exposed to fibers brought home on work clothing. Wives and children of refinery workers, petrochemical employees, and construction workers often developed mesothelioma decades later from washing contaminated clothes or simply being in the home when asbestos fibers became airborne. This type of exposure accounts for many mesothelioma cases among people who never worked directly with asbestos.

How many asbestos trust funds exist to compensate mesothelioma victims?

Approximately 35 asbestos trust funds currently exist to compensate victims and families affected by asbestos-related diseases. These trusts were established when major asbestos manufacturers like Johns-Manville filed for bankruptcy and reorganized. The trust funds vary significantly in payout amounts, with some paying very little and others paying more substantial compensation. However, as founding partner Rod De Llano notes, no amount truly compensates a family for losing a loved one to mesothelioma.

Why are fewer mesothelioma cases filed in Texas now?

Texas law changed in 2003, making it significantly more difficult to file mesothelioma cases in the state. Before that change, many attorneys filed cases in Texas even for non-Texas residents. The new laws are considered particularly unfair to workers and family members affected by asbestos exposure. As a result, most mesothelioma law firms, including Danziger & De Llano, now file cases in other jurisdictions that have more favorable laws for victims.

When did asbestos warning labels first appear?

Warning labels were supposed to appear on asbestos products after OSHA regulations in the 1970s, but many manufacturers delayed compliance until the 1980s. Some companies began warning workers earlier, but many did not warn workers at all. As Larry Gates describes, his father worked 22 years at a Texas refinery without any warnings about asbestos dangers—his only protection was a hard hat.

What is the latency period for mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma has a latency period of 20 to 50 years between asbestos exposure and symptom onset. In Larry Gates' father's case, he was exposed during his 22-year career at a Texas refinery starting in the 1950s but didn't develop symptoms until 1999 at age 81. This long latency period explains why mesothelioma cases continue to be diagnosed today, even though most heavy asbestos use ended decades ago.

When did Danziger & De Llano start handling asbestos cases?

Danziger & De Llano began handling asbestos cases in 2001, starting with asbestosis cases diagnosed through pulmonary tests and X-rays. The firm's practice expanded to include lung cancer and mesothelioma cases. Nearly 25 years later, the firm continues to represent mesothelioma victims and their families nationwide, having recovered nearly $2 billion for asbestos victims.

Resources for Texas Mesothelioma Victims

  • Danziger & De Llano (Nationwide Mesothelioma Law Firm): https://dandell.com/
  • Understanding Mesothelioma: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/
  • Asbestos Exposure Sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/
  • Mesothelioma Compensation Options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/
  • Veterans & Mesothelioma: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-veterans/
  • Rod De Llano, Founding Partner: https://dandell.com/rod-de-llano/
  • Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate: https://dandell.com/larry-gates/
  • Dave Foster, Executive Director of Patient Advocacy: https://dandell.com/david-foster/
  • Free Consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/

About MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is produced by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. The podcast provides education, support, and outreach for families facing mesothelioma diagnoses.

Disclaimer: This podcast provides information only and does not constitute legal advice. For a free case evaluation, visit dandell.com.

Episode recorded 2026 | Transcript optimized for accessibility and search


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David Foster

Host
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Anna Jackson

Co-host