An Oakland jury on Wednesday awarded $4M in compensatory damages to a parts worker who unpacked truck brakes and contracted mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos. The jury also found that the four defendants acted with malice. A punitive damages phase is scheduled to begin January 5, 2011.
"This case has been about corporations that refuse to accept responsibility for a preventable injury that will result in death," said Joe Satterley of Sales & Satterley, in his closing argument in the Gordon Bankhead v. Allied Packing asbestos trial. "These companies -- Abex, Carlisle, Fruehauf and Rockwell -- have contributed most of the exposure of the asbestos to Gordon Bankhead, and they could have prevented it. And this exposure was a substantial factor in contributing to the risk...of the mesothelioma."
