Former Ford Motor Mechanic Wins $8.4M In Asbestos Trial

Former Ford Motor Mechanic Wins $8.4M In Asbestos Trial

Introduction

A couple has been awarded a total of $8.4 million in an asbestos lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. by a St. Louis jury.

According to the court records, the husband was employed as a mechanic at Ford's Mercury and Lincoln automobile dealerships from the 1960s until the 1980s. During his employment, he was exposed to asbestos fibers while working with brakes, gaskets, clutches, and OEM replacement parts, which later led to pleural mesothelioma in his right lung. Following an eight-day trial, presided by Hon. Judge Christopher McGaugh, the Missouri Circuit Court for St. Louis City jury reached the verdict on Aug 22.

Initially, the husband was awarded $5,725,000 in actual damages and $2 million in punitive damages, and his wife was awarded $708,000 in actual damages, after finding that she sustained damage as a direct result of injury to her husband. In an order published on August 30, the verdict was reduced by $1,497,500 for set-offs. This resulted in $4,392,311.13 to the husband in actual damages and $2 million in punitive damages. The wife's award was reduced to $543,188.87.

Earlier, four plaintiffs who developed mesothelioma from inhaling asbestos from Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) cosmetic talc products
were awarded $37.3 million by a six-member New Jersey state court jury.

The settlement breakup in this fourth J&J cosmetic talc case that will go to trial in New Jersey is as follows, $7.25 million to the first couple, $9.45 million to the second couple, $14.7 million to a plaintiff, and $5.9 million to the third couple. In the coming Fall date for the second phase of the trial to determine punitive damages will be set.

Two mesothelioma-related trials are in progress in California state court in Los Angeles. Jury selection is underway in the state’s first cosmetic talc trial and ovarian cancer case since a trial last year in Missouri, which ended in a $4.7 billion verdict in Georgia state court in Atlanta.

A jury ruled the judgement in the company's favour when J&J stated that it relied on Georgia-Pacific to warn the end-users of its joint compound products. The summary judgement was announced in Delaware trial court rewarding the Union Carbide Corp.

The country's first asbestos lawsuit was filed by a woman in 1929 in Newark (NJ) Federal Court and 15 more individuals tried to get compensation in similar suits. The woman's lawsuit was disqualified in 1934, but many such lawsuits were filed later. Johns-Manville Corporation was targeted by these lawsuits, as it was one of the biggest companies then. Eventually, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1982.