Facts

Richard Worthley Sr., deceased, served in the United States Marine Corps in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Vietnam from 1963 to 1967. In May 1968, he began his career at the Johns-Manville plant in Waukegan, IL. He started as a painter, then as a production planner, and then as a millwright. When the plant closed down in 1984, he worked as a maintenance mechanic and service technician throughout Southern California until 2004, when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal asbestos caused cancer of the pleura, the organ that protects the lungs.

Advocate Mines Limited (Advocate) of Baie Verte, Newfoundland, mined, manufactured, and supplied asbestos fiber to various Johns-Manville plants from 1963 to 1981. Advocate supplied asbestos fiber to the Waukegan, IL plant from December 1963 to April 1967. During his career at the plant from May 1968 to November 1984, Worthley was exposed to dust from the raw asbestos fiber used to make Transite asbestos-cement pipe, including asbestos fiber that had been re-entrained and re-suspended from when Advocate supplied asbestos fiber to the plant. In addition to simply being present on a daily basis in the contaminated plant, one of Worthley's jobs was to clean and repair the Transite manufacturing equipment, including the willows, and clean and repair the dust collection equipment, including the bag houses, ventilators, and cyclones. All these activities exposed Worthley to asbestos dust.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiffs contended that when used as intended, hazardous levels of respirable asbestos dust from Advocate's raw asbestos fiber was released into the background of the facility. By 1963, it was well established in medicine and science that asbestos caused asbestosis, pleural disease, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. However, Advocate supplied its defective asbestos fiber without any warnings or any other reasonable care to avoid injury to others.

Damages

$877,750 economic damages ($47,351 medical expenses; $2,649 funeral and burial expenses; $827,750 non-medical expenses); $2.5 million non-economic damages

Result

The jury determined that Advocate was negligent, its asbestos product was defective, and it failed to warn of the hazards. The jury assessed a total award of $3,377,750, and assigned 5 percent liability to Advocate.

Deliberation

one day

Length

six weeks