More than $80 billion in damages has already been paid out to over 700,000 claimants, with millions more in various stages of the litigation process.

While many experts have predicted that the number of asbestos cases would eventually decline — with the widespread use of asbestos ceasing in the 1970s — asbestos litigation is actually on the increase.

Several large insurers have warned this year of additional costs in the hundreds of millions of settling new asbestos cases in 2011, partially fueled by over-zealous lawyers adding anyone vaguely exposed to asbestos to class action lawsuits.

Judges and juries continue to award large verdicts and favor plaintiffs, creating a feedback loop that could likely see asbestos litigation grow for years to come.

Ingenious claims are also arising for damages to be awarded in cases of indirect responsibility, with businesses being sued for “civil conspiracy” by plaintiffs who can’t prove any asbestos exposure directly.

Other companies have been targeted in lawsuits that claim they are responsible for the actions of other companies that took their initial products and added asbestos to them, opening up the door for suits against a much larger pool of companies.

The study examined 928 veterans and determined that they had on average 7 months to live after being diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Patients who had Stage I mesothelioma lived an average of 9.6 months after diagnosis. Stage II patients lived an average of 10.3 months, while Stages III and IV lived an average of 6.7 months and 5.3 months.

Like many cases of mesothelioma, the exposure often came many decades ago, with the cancer only appearing and becoming malignant later in their lives.

About 30% of mesothelioma sufferers served in the military, with exposure most often coming from building products used in constructing barracks and other buildings as well as a host of other products that contained asbestos. All branches of the military used asbestos from between the 1940s and the 1970s.

As is with the case of people exposed to asbestos in other fields, spouses and family members of veterans could also have been exposed second-hand through contact with clothes.

It was announced on June 20th that NBC had been dropped from the wide-ranging lawsuit in the Olsen case, which Olsen launched in 2009 just a year before his death.

Olsen claims that he contracted mesothelioma due to contact with asbestos in heavy equipment parts, construction materials used on Hollywood television sets, and other consumer and construction products.

Olsen’s lawyer John Langdoc claims that NBC was dropped from the lawsuit due to no direct evidence that they were aware of the dangers of asbestos.

While asbestos lawsuits are currently raging across the country there’s still no clear consensus as to how much burden many companies should bear for mesothelioma cases and other illnesses caused by asbestos.

Asbestos was a very common additive to building materials and other products for decades until the link to cancer was discovered, so many judges and juries struggle with the question of just how responsible most companies should be when they had no real evidence to suggest that exposure to asbestos was dangerous and potentially life threatening.

Any contractor that offers asbestos removal services must be licensed and certified, with special training required by many states in order for any worker involved in the project to remove asbestos materials from homes. While homeowners can remove asbestos siding and other materials from their own homes without training or certification, any contractor or professional service offering to remove asbestos must be trained and certified. So the first place to start when evaluating asbestos removal services is to check that they are indeed properly licensed, certified, and trained to handle potentially dangerous materials such as asbestos.

When getting bids and evaluating removal services, don’t be shy about asking them what equipment they’ll be using. They should be using vacuum machines with very fine HEPA filters designed to suck up even the tiniest asbestos fibers from the air, and all workers should be outfitted with body suits and HEPA masks and filters. They should also have the proper sheeting and materials necessary to seal off various portions of your house, so that the area they’re working in that contains asbestos is isolated from the rest of the house, with no chance of fibers escaping to other portions of your home.

One last thing to look for is a bid that reflects the specialized nature of the work. Asbestos removal by professionals is very expensive, so expect to pay thousands of dollars for the service. The specialized equipment and training isn’t cheap, and that cost is reflected in what you’ll pay for qualified, licensed work done by asbestos remediation experts. While that’s not the happiest of news to hear, it does help you potentially screen out contractors to avoid, as someone that offers to remove asbestos from your home for $300 is someone to avoid, as they’re obviously not using the correct equipment and haven’t had the correct training.

But we know answers like that are useless and that you’re likely after a general “ballpark” guesstimate, as far as what to expect when replacing the siding on your home. The majority of siding replacement jobs are for new vinyl siding or new fiber cement siding, so below you’ll find our best guesstimate based on various sources as far as what to expect to replace the siding on your home.

Vinyl Siding

The average cost for vinyl siding replacement is around $4.50-$5.50/exterior sq. ft, so for a small-medium sized home with 2,000 exterior sq. ft., you’re looking at an average cost of $9,000-$11,000 to replace your old siding with new vinyl siding. That doesn’t include soffits or trim, so factor in slightly more if you have extensive soffits or trim that you want done as well.

Fiber Cement Siding

On average, replacing your old siding with fiber cement siding will typically run you about 10% more than vinyl siding, so for the same 2000 exterios sq. ft. house, expect to pay somewhere around $10,000-$13,000 to have your old siding replaced with fiber cement siding. That’s just for the installation, so add in more if you’re going to need your new fiber cement painted to a custom color.

As we said in the intro, those are really just ballpark guesstimates, so take them with a grain of salt. They do serve as a decent benchmark, though, to let you know whether bids or estimates you’ve gotten are ridiculously high (such as $20,000 for new siding on a 2-1 800 sq. ft. home) or even too low, as someone offering to to replace the siding on your 3,000 sq. ft. dream home for $4,000 (but wanting half of the money up front before starting) is obviously out to scam you, as that price is below even the cost of the siding for a job that size.

If you’re looking to replace a few of the asbestos shingles on your home, various manufacturers today make a fiber cement replacement product that looks exactly like older asbestos shingles, but obviously contain no potentially harmful asbestos. These fiber cement replacement shingles can also be safely cut, drilled, and sawn to your heart’s content, if you need to cut a hole for an exhaust or vent pipe, etc.

GAF provides its Weatherside line of absestos replacement siding, which comes in various sizes and profiles, and James Hardie has its own line of popular fiber cement shingle siding as well. Another possibility is to check underneath your house, as sometimes extra original siding shingles were stored underneath homes as it was being installed, so sometimes original shingles can be found there. Care must be taken when installing them, obviously, and they should never be cut or sawn, but if you’re lucky the solution to your problem might be underneath your own home.

Long story short, check your state and local guidelines. Don’t assume that disposing of asbestos siding will be extremely expensive and require tons of permits, but also don’t assume that you’ll be able to crat it off to the local landfill, either.

While you legally can remove asbestos siding from your own home in most states, whether you should or not is another question entirely. If you’re adequately prepared and take the necessary precautions, yes, you can safely remove asbestos siding yourself. If you aren’t prepared and don’t take the necessary precautions, there are serious health risks in attempting to remove asbestos siding yourself.

In many cases homeowners are better off leaving asbestos siding in place and encapsulating it with vinyl siding or other products. Asbestos is only dangerous when it’s broken up and the fibers are airborne, as then it can be inhaled and become a cancer risk.

The mere presence of asbestos in building materials isn’t dangerous as long as it lies undisturbed, so in many instances it’s actually much safer to leave asbestos in place instead of attempting to remove it.

In general, though, homes with asbestos siding are viewed by most buyers and sellers as having a “problem”, much like a home with foundation issues. The general take on asbestos siding is that it’s dangerous and expensive to remove, so that often translates into a perceived lower value for a home that has asbestos cement siding, in the eyes of many home buyers and sellers.

That said, there are many buyers who won’t blink an eye at a home with asbestos siding and won’t consider it a negative at all. Unlike a home with foundation issues, asbestos siding isn’t always seen as a negative. The look of asbestos siding is also making a comeback of sorts, along with the revived interest in ranch-style homes, and some home-owners are choosing fiber cement siding (that looks exactly like older asbetos siding but contains no asbestos) when installing new siding.

One thing to keep in mind, too, is that sellers sometimes discount their asking price too much, because they overestimate the problem that asbestos siding presents. If you can purchase a home with asbestos siding at a steep discount, it might actually be worth more to you at the end of the day, if the cost to remove the siding or install new siding over the asbestos siding is smaller than the discount you received when purchasing the home.

Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers can cause cancer, and it doesn’t take years of exposure (such as working in mines or factories processing asbestos) to develop problems from asbestos. Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers is a significant, major health risk, so yes, asbestos can ve a very dangerous material, which is why it’s no longer used in building materials.

Asbestos siding itself, though, is rarely dangerous. If it’s intact and installed on exterior walls, it’s perfectly safe, and will remain so for decades and decades. It is only dangerous if the siding is broken into many small pieces, sawed, drilled, etc. Asbestos shingles are perfectly safe to handle, touch, and be in the presence of as long as they are intact and unbroken.