$322 million asbestos verdict becomes $0 on retrial 
Published: April 30, 2012
Tags: asbestos, asbestos litigation, asbestosis, Top Ten Jury Verdicts, Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2011
In a retrial of the largest single plaintiff’s asbestos award in U.S. history, a second jury came back with a defense verdict and awarded nothing.
‘Two-disease’ rule allows second asbestos suit
Published: February 29, 2012
Tags: asbestos, asbestosis, mesothelioma, product liability
A plaintiff who recovered damages for lung cancer in an earlier asbestos suit could bring a second product liability suit for asbestos exposure when he later developed a new malignant disease, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled in reversing a summary judgment.
Jury awards $322 million to worker in asbestos case
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: asbestos, asbestos litigation, asbestosis, Top Ten Jury Verdicts, Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2011
As a teenager growing up in Mississippi who barely learned to read or write, Thomas Brown Jr. went to work on oil drilling rigs as a “roughneck” – doing all the hard manual labor to support the drilling team, including pouring 50-pound bags of additives into mud used in the drilling process.
Thirty years later, he learned those bags contained asbestos.
State law limiting asbestos claims isn’t retroactive
Published: July 13, 2011
Tags: asbestos, asbestosis, Florida Asbestos and Silica Compensation Fairness Act, product liability
A state law limiting asbestos claims does not apply to lawsuits filed before the statute went into effect, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled.
Union Carbide seeks recusal of judge in asbestos verdict
Published: May 26, 2011
Tags: asbestos, asbestos litigation, asbestosis, recusal, Union Carbide
Union Carbide has moved for the trial judge who oversaw a $322 million jury trial to be recused from the case.
Jury orders two companies to pay $322 million asbestos verdict
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: May 17, 2011
Tags: asbestos, asbestos litigation, asbestosis
As a teenager growing up in Mississippi who barely learned to read or write, Thomas Brown Jr. went to work on oil drilling rigs as a “roughneck” – doing all the hard manual labor to support the drilling team.
Worker’s wife awarded $209M for asbestos-laced laundry
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: May 5, 2010
Tags: asbestosis, crocidolite, mesothelioma, “second-hand” asbestos cases, “take-home” asbestos cases
Like many women of her generation, 68-year-old Rhoda Evans took care of the home, did the cooking and cleaning, and tended to the family laundry, including washing her husband’s work clothes during his twenty years at a pipe-cutting job.
Years later, she learned those clothes – the ones she insisted he remove and shake out every night upon entering their home – contained microscopic asbestos fibers that will kill her.
Jury awards money for ‘every breath’ in $15M asbestos verdict
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: April 20, 2010
Tags: asbestos, asbestosis, flosal
A Mississippi jury has awarded $15 million to a 71 year-old oil industry worker who developed asbestosis after years of handling bags of product containing 99 percent asbestos.
In opening statements, lead plaintiff’s attorney Greg Jones of Franklin, Cardwell & Jones in Houston asked the jury, “What is the value of a breath?”
