The vast majority of the asbestos containing brake linings Gordon was exposed to were produced by Carlisle Brake and Friction, and Pneumo Abex. At trial, evidence revealed the knowledge Pneumo Abex had as early as 1940 that breathing asbestos dust had adverse effects. Despite this knowledge, Pneumo Abex neglected to warn their customers of the dangers and consequences of asbestos dust exposure, thus allowing workers, like Gordon, to be exposed to the deadly dust. Both Pneumo Abex and Carlisle Brake and Friction discussed in the 1970s whether or not they would advise their customers of the heath risks involved with their brake products. Furthermore, they both continued to sell brakes containing asbestos until 1987.

In December of 2010, the court ruled in favor of Gordon and Emily. Gordon was awarded $1.47 million for economic loses as well as $1.5 million for his pain and suffering. Emily was awarded $1 million due to her loss of her husband’s companionship and support. The defendants were also found by the court to be malicious, oppressive, and fraudulent in their continued sale of asbestos-containing brakes. In January of 2011, punitive damages of $13.5 million were awarded, bringing the total amount of the verdict to $17,470,000.

The verdict was awarded to the deceased men’s families against Wallace & Gale Co., an insulation contractor. Wallace & Gale was found strictly liable and negligent in their use of asbestos insulation. McCormick Asbestos Co., cross-defendants to the litigation, offered a confidential settlement to the men’s families prior to the trial. 

Both Wallace & Gale and McCormick Asbestos produced products that contained asbestos and contributed to the deaths of the four men. Levester and Rufus both worked at American Smelting, located in Baltimore. Roger and Mayso both worked for Bethlehem Steel at their Sparrows Point mill.

At the trial, the families of the deceased men were very emotional. The men were between 65 and 81 years old when they passed away. Before cancer was found in their lungs, they each had asbestosis and were given only 2 to 14 months to live following their diagnoses.

Rufus is survived by his wife and four children who were awarded $1 million for their loss of their father, and $1.02 million for his pain and suffering from asbestosis and lung cancer. Levester had three children who received $1.04 million for his asbestosis and lung cancer and $1 million for the loss of their father. Roger’s children were similarly awarded $950,000 for the loss of their father and $1.7 million for his asbestosis and lung cancer. Mayso family received a slightly larger award due to the loss of a father to seven children: $2.4 million for the loss of their father, and $530,000 for Mayso’s asbestosis and lung cancer.

Unfortunately, Maryland — like other states — has a cap on the amount of non-economic damages that can be awarded in asbestos cases. Mayso’s family’s award may be reduced due to this cap despite the award being similar in proportion to the size of his family when compared to the other awards.

As a “roughneck,” Thomas was responsible for various hard labor duties to insure that more experienced oilfield workers could perform their operations successfully. One of the most important components of an effective drilling team involves the mixing of drilling mud. Thomas’ responsibilities as a “roughneck” included pouring 50-pound bags of additives into the drilling mud. Thirty years later, Thomas found out that the additive he was pouring was asbestos.

Asbestos was used in drilling mud from the mid 1960s until the late 1980s. The asbestos additive was manufactured and distributed by Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Union Carbide Corp. Despite their knowledge of the dangers of asbestos, both companies continued to market and distribute the dangerous material without providing adequate warning labels on the product. Had the warning labels been adequate, then Thomas and others would have had the opportunity to protect themselves from the dangerous asbestos dust. Instead, Thomas and other laborers inhaled asbestos dust with no adequate warning to the dangers of the material. Now Thomas, at only 48 years of age, requires an oxygen mask for 18 to 24 hours per day or he will be unable to breath due to his asbestosis.

The 1972 Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations state that a warning label must be of sufficient size and contrast. The defendants argued that their warning labels met these standards. However, their warning label was only the size of a cell phone on one side if the 50 pound bags. Furthermore, their warning label was not bold enough to draw attention. Had they used stronger, contrasting colors such as yellow or red, and made their warning label an adequate size relative to the 50 pound bags, then Thomas might have noticed the warning label.

Perhaps the strongest witness in the trial was Thomas’ friend and co-worker. Thomas’ friend also worked as a “roughneck” and testified of this own lung cancer. He handled the same asbestos product as Thomas.

The rural Mississippi jury awarded Thomas $11 million for future medical expenses, $11 million for pain and suffering, and $300 million in punitive damages to be split evenly between Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Union Carbide Corp. The state of Mississippi has a cap on punitive damages at $20 million for companies with a net worth over $1 billion.

While working for FDCC John was frequently exposed to asbestos dust. He argued and provided evidence showing that the hazards of exposure to asbestos have been known since the 1920s. Additionally, asbestos exposure’s correlation to mesothelioma cancer may have being widely known by as early as the 1950s, nearly a decade before John’s asbestos exposure to Kaiser’s asbestos containing products began.

John’s case was heard in two separate trials. His favorable verdicts were announced roughly 7 weeks apart. In March, following a 14 week trial and over 2 weeks of deliberations, the San Francisco jury decided that both Kaiser, and FDCC California Inc., formerly Dinwiddie Construction Co., had acted with negligence. It was illustrated through credible and coherent evidence that both companies acted with oppression and malice. Kaiser’s asbestos containing pipe joint compounds and wallboards had defective designs. In addition, Kaiser failed to warn consumers and users of these defective products of their dangerous asbestos defect. FDCC acted with negligence due to their thoughtless sweeping up of debris containing asbestos from Kaiser’s products that resulted in the formation of clouds of asbestos dust.

The verdict awarded John and Patricia $20.2 million and included $1.2 million in economic damages, $5 million in loss of consortium damages, and an additional $15 million in non-economic damages. However, the jury’s apportionment of fault will lower the amount of compensatory damages John and Patricia will receive. FDCC was given 7 percent of the fault, while Kaiser was given 3.5 percent. Of the $20.2 million in compensatory damages, John will receive $2.8 million from FDCC and $1.8 million for Kaiser. The remaining 89.5 percent of fault was apportioned between 10 other companies that settled prior to the verdict. These companies settled in various amounts totaling $7.8 million.

Following the compensatory award came a later award of $20 million for punitive damages in May. This verdict came after a three week trial and one half day of deliberations. The jury’s decision was unanimous.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with a discouraging prognosis; once one receives a diagnosis, they will likely pass away within a year or two. Furthermore, mesothelioma cancer is a disease with an astonishing latency period. The disease usually develops decades following one’s exposure to asbestos, and is usually not able to be diagnosed until well into the advanced stages of the cancer.

The authors of this study looked extensively at data from 56 countries. This provided them with information on 174,300 deaths from mesothelioma between 1994 and 2008. Due to the typical distance in time between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma’s diagnosis, often 20 to 50 years, the authors also looked at the level of asbestos use within the 56 countries between 1920 and 1970. The resulting figures allowed the authors to conclude that a country’s use of asbestos reliably indicated and predicted the later deaths from mesothelioma cancer in that country.

There were 33 countries that used asbestos from 1920 to 1970 that did not report any cases of mesothelioma from 1994 to 2008. Using the statistical evidence that was compiled allowed the study’s authors to conclude that in those 33 countries there were a probable 38,900 mesothelioma deaths that went unreported. Ken Takahashi, from Japan’s University of Occupational and Environmental Health, says that their “most important finding is the magnitude of unreported mesothelioma in countries that used asbestos at substantial levels but report no cases of the disease.” Of the top 15 asbestos using countries, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, and India all neglected to report a single case of mesothelioma.

The best way to prevent mesothelioma is to eliminate the use of asbestos. Surprisingly, asbestos continues to be mined. According to the British Geological Survey of world mineral production, in 2006 there were 2.3 million tonnes of asbestos mined worldwide. Perhaps most surprising is Canada’s 10.3% share in this production. Other producing countries include Russia at 40.2%, China at 19.9%, Kazakhstan at 13.0%, and Brazil at 9.9%.

Following one day of deliberations, the jury awarded Rubert $430,961 for medical expenses, $12 million in compensatory damages, $12.5 million in punitive damages, and interest on these amounts. The total verdict was around $25 million. Unfortunately, due to a legal ceiling on punitive damages, that portion of the verdict will be reduced from $12.5 million to $5 million. This reduces the actual amount Rubert is able to claim to $17.5 million.

It is expected that Exxon will appeal the verdict, which will likely last for two years. Plaintiffs argued that Exxon had known about the danger presented by asbestos exposure and established rules in the 1930s to protect their refinery workers. Despite this fact, Exxon neglected to take any steps to warn the shipyard workers that worked on their commercial tankers. Exxon maintains that they were not responsible for the asbestos exposure suffered at the Newport News shipyard. Instead, they contend that it was the Newport News shipyard that was responsible for ensuring the shipyard worker’s safety. Exxon spokesman Ray Botto insists that Exxon “relied on Newport News (shipyard) and its personnel to ensure repair activities were safely carried out.”

Historically, most asbestos related lawsuits are brought against the manufacturers of asbestos-laden ship parts. These parts include pumps, seals, insulation, and gaskets. For decades these parts have been used heavily in ships.

Nevertheless, the jury felt strongly about their verdict and awarded two and a half times what the Plaintiffs asked for in punitive damages.

“Falsifying asbestos reports and air quality data is a serious crime and undermines our nation’s efforts to protect human health and the environment,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Exposure to asbestos can be fatal, and the conviction by a jury shows that the American people will not tolerate illegal activity that puts the public at risk of cancer or other serious respiratory diseases.”

“Because of the dishonest and illegal practices of this company, many people were left unaware for years of their possible exposure to asbestos,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “Companies and employees will be fully investigated and prosecuted when they put the public’s health at risk by violating environmental laws.”

CES and the conspirators within the company will now face justice. CES will possibly be fined a maximum of $7.5 million, plus restitution to all victims. The individual conspirators face maximum fines of $3 million, $1.25 million, and $1 million with respective maximum jail sentences of 110 years, 40 years, and 50 years. Sentencing will occur on February 25, 2011 in Utica, New York.

This conviction is just the latest related to fraudulent asbestos removal that have been brought to trial by the EPA and the Justice Department. This fact is disturbing considering the decades old knowledge that asbestos causes and continues to cause invariably fatal forms of lung cancer such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. As determined by the EPA, there is no known safe level of asbestos exposure.

Daniel was a forklift operator for National Gypsum at a Maryland plant for his entire working life. He loaded and unloaded deliveries that often included raw asbestos material. A 1967 Union Carbide internal corporate document expressed concern with the hazards associated with asbestos. The Plaintiff’s attorney remarked that the “document outlined pretty much all you needed to know about the hazards two years before Union Carbide began selling asbestos to National Gypsum.” Despite these alarming concerns, the company proceeded to ship over 2.4 million pounds of deadly asbestos to Daniel’s employer, National Gypsum, between 1969 to 1975. Daniel’s family submitted approximately 50 documents, including medical literature, to the court that proved a link between asbestos and mesothelioma was known before this period.

At the trial, two of Daniel’s friends and co-workers described in their testimonies the conditions under which they labored. As 35 pound bags of raw asbestos arrived, they would lift the bags and transfer them to Daniel’s forklift. In so doing, a cloud of white asbestos dust was released. If they had been  warned of the dangers associated with asbestos, known to Union Carbide as early as 1967, they could have avoided dangerous exposure to lethal dust created by over 2.4 million pounds of the material – approximately 70,000 bags of asbestos.

There are six varieties of asbestos. Though Daniel was exposed to chrysotile, a less dangerous type of asbestos, a medical expert witness insisted that Daniel’s mesothelioma was due to his lengthy exposure to chrysotile asbestos.

The jury awarded Daniel’s estate $1.2 million and each of his sons $607,500.

Vernon and other commercial painters worked with these dangerous painting products daily until their eventual ban. This despite the fact that the CPSC unequivocally advised the asbestos industry that using asbestos laden products only four times could result in thousands of excess cancer victims.

According to the Plaintiff’s attorney, “The asbestos industry has spent decades developing false science used to argue that asbestos is safe.” The industry argued in this instance that “Chrysotile” and “Calidria” brand asbestos do not cause cancer. This argument was proven to be false, and the jury awarded Vernon and Patsy roughly $11 million. Union Carbide Corporation, the asbestos mining company, was apportioned 40 percent of the blame in this litigation while the companies that manufactured the painting products Vernon used were given the remainder of the liability. Most of these manufacturers made the decision to settle prior to, or during the trial.

Somalogic’s clinical research director Rachel Ostroff commented that mesothelioma is currently “detected at an advanced stage, where the possibility of cure is minimal.” Furthermore, Ostroff insists that the ability to detect mesothelioma “at an earlier stage would identify patients for early treatment, which may improve their survival and quality of life.” Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos and is responsible for the worldwide deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 people annually.

Somalogic’s test aims to detect mesothelioma through the examination of proteins in the blood. The test relies on bits of genetic material that are stuck to a protein, also known as aptamers. The researchers made use of computer modeling that examined data looking for biomarkers, or significant biological differences. What they found is the existence of biomarkers in those with mesothelioma that were not present in the control group. The control group was made up of people with conditions such as lung fibrosis – which has similar side effects to mesothelioma. The biomarkers examined were highly successful and accurate in detecting mesothelioma. They were also extremely specific – meaning that the researchers were able to rule out those that did not suffer from mesothelioma.

Though Somalogic’s findings are promising, additional testing is required to ensure that the results can be reliably reproduced in diagnostic tests and that they were accurate. Ostroff and her team will be considering various factors that might lead to false positive results. One such factor would be something as simple as the length of time the sample had been sitting on the shelf: “We’ll look at enough of these parameters to make sure we are looking at disease biomarkers.”