Plaintiff Gail Hart, executor of the estate of the decedent Alva Coykendall (the plaintiff), filed suit alleging that her husband worked with a substantial amount of asbestos-containing brake and clutch friction materials manufactured by various defendants. Prior to his death, Coykendall was deposed and testified that he did work as an uncertified mechanic from approximately 1972 through 2014. Coykendall further specified he performed work on brakes and clutches which included exposure to brake dust when working on vehicles that did not require a full brake …
Continue ReadingAuthor: David E. Rutkowski
Missouri Court of Appeals Finds Totality of Circumstances Standard Sufficient to Prove Causation under Wisconsin Law
Plaintiff Jean Urbach filed suit against 29 defendants on claims of negligence, strict liability, willful and wanton misconduct, and loss of consortium arguing that the defendants’ products caused her husband, Keith Urbach, to be exposed to asbestos, develop mesothelioma, and ultimately was the cause of his death. The plaintiff argues that Urbach was exposed to and inhaled friable asbestos fibers during his career as an electrician from 1963 to 2001. Urbach was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August 2011 and passed away in February 2012. The …
Continue ReadingSummary Judgment Granted to Valve Manufacturer Based on Insufficient Evidence of Exposure
The plaintiff filed suit in the Superior Court of Rhode Island, Providence for personal injuries and wrongful death alleging plaintiff’s decedent use of asbestos products with defendant’s valves were foreseeable to the defendant and, under a negligence theory, the defendant failed to warn of the associated hazards.
The defendant moved for summary judgment under Maine Law, to which both parties agreed upon, on November 16, 2016, and argued that the plaintiff failed to offer, and have no reasonable expectation of offering any evidence that plaintiff’s …
Continue ReadingAppellate Court Affirms Dismissal in Federal Court Without Prejudice; Allows Plaintiffs to Refile in State Court
Plaintiffs Richard Zanowick and Joan Clark-Zanowick filed suit in state court in July 2014. The defendants timely removed the case to federal court on diversity grounds a month later. With the case now in federal court, Richard Zanowick passed away on October 12, 2014. The plaintiffs filed and electronically served a notice of his death on November 17, 2014. Pursuant to Rule 25(a)(1), the plaintiffs were required to file a motion to substitute a new party for Richard Zanowick within 90 days, or in this …
Continue ReadingBaltimore Jury Awards $14.5M to Former Steamfitter in Mesothelioma Claim
Plaintiff William E. Busch, Jr. filed suit against various defendants alleging asbestos exposure between 1967 and 1976 from both his work as a steamfitter and from home renovation projects. Busch, Jr. was diagnosed with mesothelioma in March of 2016 and filed suit shortly thereafter on April 11, 2016 under Case No. 24X16000151.
On February 16, 2017, following a three week trial presided by Judge Shannon Avery in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, the jury returned a verdict in plaintiff’s favor on counts of negligence …
Continue ReadingFederal Court Grants Summary Judgment for Automotive Defendant for Lack of Causation
Plaintiffs Stephen and Marilyn Charlevoix brought this asbestos-related action against various defendants, including Fiat Allis North America, on July 10, 2015, in the Delaware Supreme Court. They alleged that Stephen Charlevoix developed mesothelioma as a result of naval and occupational exposure to asbestos between 1961 and 1978. During this time, Charlevoix worked as boiler tender, maintenance worker, and equipment installer. Charlevoix also ran his own logging business from the late 1960s up until the filing of the lawsuit at issue. The case was removed to …
Continue ReadingCalifornia Appellate Court Reverses $3.6M Punitive Damages Award
In November 2005, after William Saller was diagnosed with mesothelioma, the plaintiffs filed suit naming 22 defendants, including the manufacturers of various asbestos products. After Saller passed away in February 2006, his wife and daughters added a wrongful death claim and continued the lawsuit.
In 2007, the plaintiffs proceeded to trial against two remaining defendants: Crown Cork and Bondex International, Inc. The jury returned a defense verdict, rejecting the plaintiffs’ strict liability design defect claim and their negligent failure-to-warn claim. The plaintiffs appealed and the …
Continue ReadingNew York Court Finds No Successor Liability and Grants Defendant’s Summary Judgment Motion
In this NYCAL asbestos action, plaintiff Ivette Montanez alleged that she developed malignant mesothelioma as the result of washing her brother’s laundry. Montanez’s brother, Eliud Hernandez, Jr., testified to working with Beck/Arnley brakes at a friend’s automobile ship in Puerto Rico when he was 15-17 years old. Defendant Beck Arnley Worldparts, Inc. moved for summary judgment, arguing, among other things, that it was not the successor to the product alleged to have caused the exposure.
The key issue to this motion centered on successor liability …
Continue ReadingNYCAL Court Sets Aside Portion of $22M Verdict and Recklessness Charge
As noted in a prior ACT post, a NYCAL jury awarded plaintiff Frank Gondar $22M ($12M for past pain and suffering and $10M for future pain and suffering) in a living mesothelioma claim. Here, the jury found defendant Burnham failed to provide adequate warnings, which was a substantial contributing factor to Mr. Gondar’s disease, and allocated Burnham with 25 percent liability. Most notably, the jury found Burnham to have acted with reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s safety after the court charged the jury on …
Continue ReadingNYCAL Jury Awards $75M Verdict in Living Mesothelioma Take-Home Exposure Case
On January 23, 2017, a NYCAL jury awarded $75 million in damages to plaintiffs Marlena F. Robaey and her husband, Edward Robaey, in a living peritoneal mesothelioma case for a 49-year old female. Justice Joan A. Madden presided over the trial where the plaintiffs alleged bystander and take-home asbestos exposure through Edward Robaey’s automotive work. Two remaining defendants were found to have acted “recklessly” by the jury.
The $75M verdict was broken down as follows: $50M for plaintiff Marlena F. Robaey ($40M in past pain …
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