Yesterday  an Illinois jury handed down a surprising verdict against two former asbestos product manufacturers. According to the attorneys involved in the case, the verdict was returned on the novel liability theory of corporate conspiracy. Typically this means that the factfinder determined that the defendants acted in concert with one another and caused the plaintiffs injury.  This is different than a typical mesothelioma product liability case where the verdict is based upon a failure to warn about a particular product manufactured or sold by the defendant.

 In this case, the plaintiff,Jayne Menssen, is 65 years old, widowed, and has no children. She was exposed to asbestos from 1967-1969 when she worked as a secretary at the UNARCO plant in Bloomington, IL.  The jury returned the following verdict:

$3,500,000 compensatory
$4,370,000 punitives against Abex
$10,000,000 punitives against Honeywell
 

 Congratulations  to my friends ,Lisa Corwin & Jim Wydler,  who represented the plaintiff  for this extraordinary result.

Today a  Baltimore jury returned a verdict of  $9,985,000  against ATTRANSCO on behalf of  LeRoy J. Conway, Jr. and his wife, Yolanda.    Leroy's  father worked for ATTRANSCO beginning in the early 1960s through the 1970s as a merchant mariner in the engine rooms of ships with steam equipment and exposed his son to asbestos when he came home from work. Leroy's claim was for his exposure in the 1970's.  Leory was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma when he was 44 years-old and underwent the removal of his lung shortly thereafter. Congratulations to my friends and co counsel Scott Frost, Demetrios Zacharapoulos, and George Tankard of Waters & Kraus on their well deserved victory.

After 5 weeks of trial against this no pay defendant, the jury returned a verdict of 1.5 million with a 5% share.  Fisher was found reckless which means under NY law the defendant is responsible for the entire verdict. This was an extremely difficult case with a 71 year old deceased and widowed mesothelioma client  – the plant he worked in had 17 tons of raw fiber shipped to it every year and pipe covering exposure.  

The next day the jury awarded 750,000 in punitive damages.

Today a Brazoria County, Texas jury awarded Maxine Puckett, the widow of Danny Puckett, 1.2 million dollars in a trial involving defendants Union Carbide and Montello .  The jury found each of the defendants  15% liable. Mr. Puckett died of mesothelioma at age 59.

Mr. Puckett was exposed to drilling mud additives containing Union Carbide asbestos. Union Carbide argued there was no exposure to its products.

Our friends Scott Frost and  Greg Lisemby of Waters & Krause represented the plaintiff.

 Mike Terry and  Kevin Jordan represented Union Carbide.

 

In the case of William and Sharon Willis v. Bondex a Springfield Illinois Jury found for the plaintiffs. This win for the plaintiffs was significant as this jurisdiction is known to be a difficult place to obtain a substantial verdict. The case was tried by  Troyce Wolf and Scott Kruka, assisted by Julie Celum. Bondex made asbestos containing joint compound which is alleged to cause mesothelioma

In this case Advocate a miner of asbestos took a pay position throughout the trial. Justice prevailed. Congratulations to James Nevin who tried the case.

Very often a case is all but won before trial because the lawyers have done their job and prepared  the case correctly. Yesterday in New Port News Virginia this proved to be true. The jury returned a verdict against Jon Crane(who never settles) for 3.8 million dollars. As part of its defense John Crane offered voodoo science that the Judge struck as too speculative at the pre trial conference.

The case was tried very well by my good friend Bobby Hatten and his staff with a 3.8 million dollar result for this deserving family.

Copy of the pretrial transcript can be read by clicking this link 

http://www.mesotheliomalegalblog.com/mesothelioma-litigation/Pre-Trial-Victory-Leads-to-38-Million-Dollar-Verdict--1-31886.html

The family of a Missouri man battled 4 companies in court over Robert Wagner's death from mesothelioma. Eventually the jury found in the family's favor. After 3 weeks of trial the jury found the companies Bondex and Conwed knew about that asbestos dangers but failed to warn.