New York Supreme Court – New York County
In this asbestos action, plaintiff Michael C. Wagner filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York – New York County, alleging occupational exposure to asbestos because of his career as a mechanic, resulting in Mr. Wagner contracting mesothelioma. Mr. Wagner named numerous defendants, including North American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in this litigation. On August 19, 2024, the case proceeded to trial against Honda. At trial, Mr. Wagner argued that Honda knew about the dangers of asbestos and that mechanics like him would be exposed to asbestos when working with asbestos-containing automobile parts. Mr. Wagner further argued that while Honda warned its own dealerships about the dangers, it never warned other mechanics or tested its vehicles or the asbestos-containing components of those vehicles. Mr. Wagner relied upon expert testimony from Dr. David Rosner (state of the art expert), Kenneth Garza, CIH (certified industrial hygienist) and Mark Ginsburg (expert in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery). Honda, meanwhile, relied upon expert testimony from Dominik Alexander, Ph.D., MSPH (epidemiologist expert), Allan Feingold, M.D. (pulmonology expert), Stanley Geyer, M.D. (anatomical pathology expert), and Kelly Tuttle, Ph.D., CIH, DABT (toxicologist and industrial hygienist expert).
On September 24, Honda moved to dismiss a punitive damages claim, citing corporate witness testimony that Honda didn’t issue any warnings because its understanding at the time was that mechanics were not at an increased risk of disease. In opposition, Mr. Wagner argued among other things, that Honda sold its first asbestos-free automobile in 1992 and didn’t stop including asbestos in component parts until 1994, which was decades after the issuance of the first federal regulations on asbestos. The court ultimately allowed a reckless disregard claim to go to the jury.
On October 1, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Wagner. The jury found that Mr. Wagner was exposed to asbestos from Honda’s products and that Honda failed to exercise reasonable care by not including a warning with those products. The jury also found that the failure constituted a substantial contributing factor in his disease. Having said that, the jury found that Honda did not act with reckless disregard. In addition, the jury found that Mr. Wagner had asbestos exposure from the products of 21 non-party entities that appeared on the verdict sheet. In that regard, the jury found that none of these entities failed to exercise reasonable care. In view of the above, the jury awarded Mr. Wagner $300,000 for past pain and suffering from the onset of his mesothelioma and $300,000 for future pain and suffering. The jury specifically found that Mr. Wagner would experience 8.4 years of future pain and suffering. The jury, though, declined to award any punitive damages.
Read the full decision here.