Facts

Plaintiff Kenneth Reid was a 77-year-old retired welder who, at the time of his diagnosis, was enjoying golf and ballroom dancing with seniors. He became chronically short of breath and now has less than 50 percent of his total lung capacity.

Reid was principally exposed to Johns Manville block and pipe cover asbestos insulation products installed and removed by Thorpe Insulation Company when he worked at a number of Southern California oil refineries during the 1960s and 1970s. His prognosis is terminal, and Reid has been given less than five years life expectancy. Reid filed his lawsuit on March 18, 2005, naming several defendants.

CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff argued that Reid correctly identified Thorpe Insulation Company as the company he worked near and around for some 20 years. The medical evidence pointed to asbestos as the cause of the breathing difficulties, due to the lack of pathologic evidence of welding exposure and the cessation of cigarette smoking in 1979.

Result

The jury found that Reid suffered $778,500 in lost income and medical expenses and awarded $2 million in pain and suffering.

Other Information

The jury found that the remaining defendant, Thorpe Insulation Company, was responsible, in part, for Reid's severe asbestosis. The jury found that Thorpe Insulation Company was negligent on multiple occasions in working near and around welders and other tradesmen, such as Reid, at various Southern California oil refineries performing rip-out and installations of new asbestos insulation without taking standard industrial hygiene precautions known or knowable by the asbestos insulation industry, such as warning nearby workers, use of wet down procedures, provision of appropriate respirators to workers near dusty conditions, provision of asbestos education and training so that workers could have an appreciation of the risks that they encountered, and the taking of asbestos dust counts by known industrial hygiene methods then in use. The jury found Thorpe Insulation Company 25 percent negligent and all others 75 percent negligent.

Deliberation

two days

Length

five days