Lucas v. Triple A Machine Shop Inc.

Negligence

San Francisco County

Superior Court Judge Andrew Y.S. Cheng

Plaintiff’s Lawyers: James P. Nevin, Jordan Scott Brayton Purcell LLP

Defense Lawyers: Robert V. Betette, Robert M. Menchini, Foley & Mansfield LLP

In a bittersweet victory, plaintiff’s attorney James P. Nevin won a $24 million verdict for a San Francisco longshoreman with mesothelioma against his former employer over conditions that contributed to his illness.

After a six-week jury trial, the verdict was announced Nov. 29. Plaintiff George Lucas died the next day. He was 81.

“What this verdict shows is that it may take many decades, but eventually juries will hold companies accountable to knowingly exposing consumers and workers to carcinogens,” Nevin said.

Nevin filed the lawsuit against Triple A Machine Shop Inc., a ship repair contractor. Lucas v. Triple A Machine Shop Inc., CGC 16-276549 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 30, 2016).

Lucas worked for over 40 years as a longshoreman, laborer and clerk in the San Francisco Bay Area until 2001. He would rest in ship engine rooms to warm himself on breaks, which were often repaired by Triple A to remove and install asbestos-containing infrastructure.

He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2016.

Because the engine room is an enclosed space, Nevin said it has some of the highest levels of asbestos. As part of Lucas’ work, he said the longshoreman loaded and unloaded ship cargo which sometimes contained raw asbestos.

While the defense pointed to this exposure as the source of Lucas’ illness, Nevin said Triple A bore some responsibility for it.

“The regulations were in place for decades,” Nevin said. “The problem was that Triple A and others didn’t follow them. Nowadays, the regulations that have been in place since the ’40s are being followed, but they weren’t being followed until about the ’90s.”

He added that although Triple A was not the sole source of illness, its corporate conduct was inappropriate.

“The difference is these other companies via settlement had accepted responsibility for their part, and Triple A was refusing to accept any responsibility,” Nevin said.

Triple A Machine Shop, which is no longer in operation, has the subject of a large toxic pollution civil suit that settled in the 1990s.

Lucas is survived by his daughter and her grandchildren, who will receive the money from the suit which comes from the multiple insurance companies that covered Triple A.

“It’s certainly timely when you look at the articles that have been coming out recently about how contaminated the Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard is,” Nevin said.

— Caroline Hart