Kris Penny, 39 of Clermont, Florida, is fighting the battle of his life against a nearly insurmountable foe – mesothelioma cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Kris was initially caught off guard by his diagnosis, Mesothelioma usually takes quite a while to present itself in the body. Kris, however, was quickly able to identify the source of his exposure: he had worked installing fiber-optic cable for AT&T, and in order to get the cable in and out of the cement pipes that were buried underground, a great deal of dust had been raised. Those cement pipes were made with asbestos cement, and Kris had been breathing in clouds of microscopic asbestos fibers. He filed a mesothelioma lawsuit against the communications giant. AT&T is essentially taking the position that Kris, and his employer were sophisticated contractors and should have been aware of the dangers. AT&T had provided warnings of the cement dust to their own employees that worked within the concrete pipes.
