Over the last 25 years, Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, LLC has represented numerous former employees of Hooker Chemical located in Niagara Falls, New York, who developed and died of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases.  We have represented carpenters, millwrights, pipefitters, repairmen, masons, maintenance men, laborers, operators, and riggers who worked throughout the Hooker Chemical Plant. Hooker Chemical Company is a name that is unfortunately synonymous with one of America’s largest and most tragic chemical disasters, Love Canal. It is estimated that between 1942 and 1975 Hooker Chemical disposed of 199,900 tons of chemical waste at four dump sites in Niagara Falls, NY. One of the most notorious sites, Love Canal, was a dry canal bed owned by Hooker and located just east of its Niagara Falls plant. Amongst the chemicals that were buried in the Love Canal are twelve known carcinogens, including benzene and dioxin. In the aftermath of the disaster, and in addition to private lawsuits, The Occidental Chemical Corporation, Hooker Chemical’s successor entity, was ordered to pay three hundred and fifty-six million dollars to state and federal government agencies to assist in the canal’s clean up and recovery efforts.  In August 1978, a federal health emergency was declared in the Love Canal community and its residents were evacuated.  In 1988, after the Federal Environmental Protection Agency in NYS conducted thousands of soil, air and water tests, the State determined that the areas directly east of Love Canal were not safe to live.

Aside from asbestos exposure, Hooker Chemical employees were at risk for benzene and dioxin exposure.  Benzene is a chemical used in the production of plastic, and dioxin is a hazardous end product developed from manufacturing plastic. Both benzene and dioxin are known carcinogens. Hooker Chemical used benzene in its plastic division, and government reports as recent as 2008, demonstrate that the ground under and around the Hooker plant contains potentially dangerous levels of dioxin.

Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, LLC has a vast amount of information regarding the various asbestos products used at Hooker Chemical.   If you or a loved one were once employed at Hooker Chemical’s Niagara Falls facility and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or another form of cancer, we urge you to contact us regarding your legal rights.