James Cavette v Johns Manville
After James Cavett was awarded $3.8 million from asbestos manufacturer Johns Manville in 1982 for compensatory and punitive damages, class actions have been filed against employers in every industry that exposed its employees to asbestos. The flood of lawsuits has caused several large corporations to undergo bankruptcy reorganization. But the number of frivolous lawsuits that try to squeeze through contribute to overloading dockets and wasting money spent on lawyers, and court costs by all parties involved.
In 1995 a mesothelioma class action lawsuit was decided in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded $700,000,000. Another 750,000 individuals have joined mesothelioma class action lawsuits.
June Hancock v Turner & Newall
In a landmark U.K. case June Hancock sued Turner & Newall, the parent company of J.W. Roberts, an asbestos factory in Armley. As a child in the 1930s June played in and around the factory and attended school across the street, where enough asbestos drifted and landed that the children were able to make “snowballs” out of the drifts. Her mother died in 1983 from mesothelioma, but when she was diagnosed with the disease she decided to sue as an exposed community resident. When the court awarded her damages of £65,000 a new precedent was set establishing a duty to the community regarding the use of hazardous materials.
Whether or not you were exposed to asbestos in a work environment, if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma please contact the experienced mesothelioma lawyers in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Brown | Kiely, LLP for a free consultation.
