Widow of the power plant worker who passed away following Mesothelioma won about $1 million compensation from a Florida Jury last Tuesday. The worker was known to die of cancer resulting from asbestos exposure. It is significant to note that Gulf Power was attributed a large chunk of blame for the misfortune but the company was not indicted on the grounds of the immoral death.
On August 10, 2006, a month before his death, Woodrow McBride along with his wife, filed a lawsuit pertaining to asbestos induced Mesothelioma. Bailiffs comprised of a list of companies of Pensacola and Southport where he worked in the capacity of power plant worker between the year 1968 and 1996. It is believed that the cause of malignant cells was his tenure at these places. Asbestos inhalation might have resulted from insulation of boilers where he worked.
Woodrow McBride was suggested to be carrying malignant cells in 2005. Mesothelioma generally impacts the lining of chest and the lungs but is also known to create malignancy in the abdominal lining. Asbestos exposure is the only know cause for Mesothelioma, the disease normally remains undiagnosed for some 20 - 40 years after affliction and this results in difficulty in treatment once the symptoms are manifest.
Jury bestowed a sum of $995,600 to the widow of McBride. The sum included two hundred and forty five thousand for medical expenses made on his husband, two hundred and twenty five thousand for the pain that the disease inflicted on him and five hundred and twenty five thousand for the agony of bereavement that she had to undergo. Jury put down 60 percent of the fault on Gulf Power though the company was not involved in the lawsuit and hence $597,360 that seems to have evolved out of their negligence can’t be forced on them.
Fifteen more companies got arraigned with a blame of one percent each. The names include General Electric, Johns Manville, Ingersoll Rand, Owens-Corning Corp., Riley Stoker, Pacific Pump Corp., Shook and Fletcher, Allis-Chalmers, Babcock and Wilcox Corp., Westinghouse and Yarway Valve, Eagle Picher Industries, Combustion Engineering,Fibrebrand Corp., and Garlock Gasket Co.
For the uninitiated, asbestos litigation is a mass tort that stretches back deepest into the history of US. In fact, the first lawsuit was filed way back in the year 1929. Nearly 6,00,000 people have been plaintiffs against some 6000 defendants and cases have more or less pertained to Mesothelioma deaths.
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