If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma in the Pittsburgh area, you need answers from someone who knows this city’s mills, its trades, and its courts. I’ve been doing this work since 1988.
I’m Lee W. Davis. I began working in asbestos litigation as a paralegal in 1988, was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1996, Michigan in 1997, and West Virginia in 2002. I spent 25 years at one of the nation’s leading asbestos litigation firms — right here in Pittsburgh — where I became a partner before opening my own practice in 2013. For nearly four decades, my work has centered on one thing: tracing how working people in Pittsburgh and the surrounding mill towns were exposed to asbestos, and holding the companies that exposed them accountable.
When you call my office, you talk to me — not an intake service, not a case manager at a national firm three states away. And if you can’t come to Lawrenceville, I’ll come to your home.
Call (412) 781-0525 for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
Why Pittsburgh Has So Many Mesothelioma Cases
Pittsburgh was the steel capital of the world, and steel was made with asbestos at every stage — in furnace insulation, boilers, piping, gaskets, protective clothing, and cranes. From the 1940s through the early 1980s, the mills along the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers used asbestos in enormous quantities, and the men and women who worked there breathed it every shift.
Mesothelioma typically appears 20 to 50 years after exposure. That’s why western Pennsylvania is still seeing new diagnoses today, decades after most of the mills closed. A diagnosis in 2026 very often traces back to a job site from the 1960s, ’70s, or ’80s — and part of my job is reconstructing that history for you.
Pittsburgh-Area Job Sites Linked to Asbestos Exposure
Over the years, my asbestos cases have involved job sites across the Pittsburgh region, including:
- U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Works (Braddock)
- U.S. Steel Homestead Works
- U.S. Steel Irvin Works (West Mifflin)
- U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works
- Jones & Laughlin (J&L) Steel — South Side Pittsburgh and Aliquippa
- Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel (Steubenville and Monessen operations)
- Power stations, glass plants, and chemical facilities throughout Allegheny, Beaver, Westmoreland, and Washington counties
If your job site isn’t listed, that means nothing about your case. Part of what I do is investigate your work history — union records, employment records, co-worker testimony, and the exposure histories built over decades of asbestos litigation in this region. You don’t need to remember every product name or every building. That’s my job.
Browse the full directory: Asbestos Job Sites in Pennsylvania
The Trades Hit Hardest
Certain Pittsburgh trades faced daily, heavy exposure, and I’ve represented workers from each of them:
Steelworkers. Furnace rebuilds, hot tops, ingot molds, and insulation tear-outs put steelworkers from Homestead, Braddock, Clairton, and Aliquippa in constant contact with asbestos dust. Many of my clients spent years around raw asbestos block and cloth without ever being told what it was.
Pipefitters and steamfitters. Pipe covering was among the most dangerous asbestos products ever made. Fitters who cut, mixed, and removed insulation — in the mills, in powerhouses, in commercial buildings downtown — received some of the heaviest exposures of any trade.
Electricians. Pulling cable through asbestos-insulated chases, working alongside insulators, and handling arc chutes and panel components exposed electricians at nearly every industrial site in the region.
Boilermakers, insulators, welders, carpenters, and laborers. Anyone who worked around the trades above breathed the same air. Bystander exposure is a well-established basis for these cases.
Mechanics. Brake and clutch work on cars, trucks, and industrial equipment involved asbestos friction products well into the 1980s.
Take-Home Exposure: Cases for Spouses and Children
Some of the most heartbreaking cases I handle involve people who never set foot in a mill. Wives who shook out and washed their husbands’ work clothes for thirty years. Children who hugged their father when he came home dusty from the powerhouse. The fibers came home on clothing, boots, hair, and tools — and the exposure was real.
Pennsylvania law recognizes these claims. If a family member’s mesothelioma traces to a household member’s work with asbestos, you may have a case. Read more about take-home asbestos cases.
How a Pittsburgh Mesothelioma Lawsuit Works
1. Free consultation. We talk — at my office, by phone, or at your home. I gather your work history, medical records, and the names of co-workers who can corroborate exposure. There is no charge and no obligation.
2. Investigation. I reconstruct your exposure history using employment and union records, product identification evidence, and the deposition record built across decades of Pittsburgh asbestos litigation.
3. Filing. Depending on the evidence, your case may involve lawsuits against solvent companies, claims against asbestos bankruptcy trust funds, or both. Most of my clients have claims in both categories. Pittsburgh-area cases are typically filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, which maintains a dedicated asbestos docket, or in the appropriate federal court.
4. Resolution. Most mesothelioma cases settle without trial. Trust claims often begin paying sooner than litigation resolves. If a defendant won’t be reasonable, I try cases — and defendants know which lawyers will.
How long do I have to file?
Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations is generally two years from diagnosis — or, in wrongful death cases, two years from the date of death. Trust funds have their own deadlines. Waiting costs options; the earlier we start, the more sources of compensation stay open.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front, ever. I handle mesothelioma cases on a contingent fee — I am paid only if you recover. Consultations are free, and you owe nothing if there’s no recovery.
What compensation is available?
Depending on the facts: medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, loss of consortium for your spouse, and wrongful death and survival damages for families. Asbestos trust claims are a separate, additional source of recovery. Every case is different, and I’ll give you an honest assessment of yours — not an inflated promise. No two cases are alike; past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Wrongful Death Claims for Pittsburgh Families
If your husband, wife, or parent died of mesothelioma, Pennsylvania law allows the family to pursue wrongful death and survival claims. These cases can be filed even if the diagnosis came shortly before death and no lawsuit was started while your loved one was alive. I’ve guided many Pittsburgh families through this process with as little burden on the family as possible — most of the work falls on me, not you. More on mesothelioma wrongful death claims.
Why Families Choose Lee W. Davis
Thirty-eight years in asbestos litigation. I began working in asbestos litigation as a paralegal in 1988 and have spent my entire legal career in this field. I know the job sites, the products, the defendants, and the medicine.
Big-firm training, one-lawyer attention. I spent 25 years at one of the nation’s leading asbestos litigation firms and became a partner there. In 2013 I opened my own practice, because I believe families facing mesothelioma deserve the lawyer, not a case number. You get the same experience that built the big firms’ reputations — working directly on your case.
Local knowledge that national firms don’t have. I know the difference between the exposure at Edgar Thomson and the exposure at Clairton. I know the Allegheny County asbestos docket. National TV firms will refer your case out or work it from a call center; I work it myself.
Direct attorney contact. You get my number. You speak with me. Home visits are never a problem.
Licensed where your case is. Pennsylvania (1996), Michigan (1997), West Virginia (2002) — because Pittsburgh workers’ careers crossed state lines, and their cases often do too.
Recognized by peers. Member, National Trial Lawyers Top 100.
Talk to Me Before You Decide Anything
You will see a lot of mesothelioma ads. Before you sign with anyone, call me and get a straight answer about what your case is actually worth pursuing and where. The call is free, the advice is honest, and there’s no pressure.
Law Offices of Lee W. Davis, Esquire, PLLC
5239 Butler Street #201, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
(412) 781-0525 | info@leewdavis.com
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Home visits available.