The widow of a factory worker who died of pleural mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos while working in a chemical company was awarded $2.38 million in compensatory damages on Tuesday by a New Jersey state court jury. The second stage of the trial will determine the punitive damages to be paid by the defendants and is expected to begin on January 23, 2019.
The widow’s husband was a manufacturing plant worker at an industrial site in Bloomfield, New Jersey, managed by the now-defunct National Starch and other companies from 1954 until 1994. He was in frequent contact with asbestos-containing materials over the years. Defense lawyers for Union Carbide asserted that there was no evidence to confirm asbestos exposure led to the man’s mesothelioma and that the only witness who testified told that he saw the man working with another brand of asbestos. The Middlesex County jury held Union Carbide responsible for the man’s death, which occurred in 2011. In 2015, Judge Ana Viscomi granted summary judgment considering that none of the man's co-workers found him using Union Carbide's asbestos products. The appeals court reversed Judge Viscomi's decision and stated the plaintiff presented evidence Union Carbide supplied over 40,000 pounds of asbestos to the facility over a 12 year period while the decedent was working at Bloomfield.
Asbestos exposure at workplaces has been the major reason for a growing number of mesothelioma lawsuits in the country. Talcum powder is another product alleged to cause ovarian cancer and mesothelioma in several individuals across the U.S. over asbestos exposure present in the talc.
