Daniel, the father of two sons, passed away due to mesothelioma cancer in 2008. Though monetary compensation cannot replace a father, the Maryland jury’s award of $2.4 million will ensure that Daniel’s family will be able to financially survive in spite of their tragic loss.

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.