Mesothelioma Law Blog

Jury Acquits W.R. Grace In Asbestos Case

A federal jury cleared W.R. Grace and three former executives on all charges of knowingly exposing residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos and concealing the danger. After a three-month trial and two days of deliberation, the jury effectively repudiated the government’s criminal case, filed in 2005.

Between 1963 and 1990, Grace operated a mine in Libby processing vermiculite, a mineral used as a fireproofing agent and soil conditioner. The vermiculite was contaminated with asbestos. At the time Grace and the executives were indicted, the Department of Justice said 1,200 area residents suffered from asbestosis, a progressive disorder in which asbestos fibers damage the lungs and make breathing more and more difficult.

Grace CEO Fred E. Festa insists that Grace and its executives never conspired to either hurt people or skirt the law. "We always believed that Grace and its former executives had acted properly and that a jury would come to the same conclusion," he says.

However, federal prosecutors depicted Grace and its executives as avaricious mine operators who conspired to frustrate government efforts to protect public health and safety. A conviction could have exposed the firm to millions of dollars in fines, and the executives named in the indictment could have faced up to 15 years in jail on the most serious charges.

The Libby trial is only one of Grace's asbestos problems. In 2008, the firm agreed to pay the federal government $250 million for cleanup costs in the Montana town. And it has been under court supervision since it filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2001 under the weight of about 118,000 personal injury claims related to asbestos-containing products.

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Judge Blasts Law Firm Over Asbestos Suit

A Los Angeles judge has blasted one of the nation's leading plaintiffs firms in asbestos litigation for attempting to obtain an upper hand in the case through what he called a "type of judicially sanctioned extortion."

The judge's statements came in a lawsuit filed by Waters & Kraus on behalf of a Los Angeles man who died of mesothelioma in December 2007. Six months before, the man had been deposed in Texas, where the case was first filed. The case has since been re-filed in California. During the past month, industrial product manufacturer Crane Co. sought to exclude the man's deposition from the case. In court papers, Crane argued that the information gleaned from the deposition, which under Texas law is limited to six hours, was insufficient to obtain summary judgment in California.

On April 7, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz, while refusing to grant summary judgment, concluded that Waters & Kraus had re-filed the case in California intentionally as a means to force a settlement. Calling such tactics a "waste of the court's time," Munoz noted that Waters & Kraus has played the same "grisly game of asbestos litigation" in at least nine cases.

Peter Kraus, managing partner of Dallas-based Waters & Kraus, told The National Law Journal that the judge "got it 180 degrees wrong." While not denying the firm's actions, Kraus said that its attorneys must file asbestos cases in jurisdictions where ailing clients don't have to endure lengthy depositions.

"And if they die, the facts necessary to prove their case die with them," he said.

Lawyers for Crane, in an April 24 appellate petition, said that the dispute could affect "potentially hundreds of pending and future asbestos personal injury and wrongful death actions in California."

"I definitely think this is something the defense and plaintiff's bar are going to watch very, very closely, and it will have very important ramifications regardless of whichever way it goes," said Alexandra Epand, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Nixon Peabody who handles asbestos litigation.

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Schoolchildren need asbestos protection

A campaigner whose wife died of asbestos-related cancer is calling for more protection from the substance for schoolchildren, it has been reported.

Micheal Lees has been lobbying for asbestos to removed from schools since his wife Gina, who was a teacher, died from mesothelioma, according to thisiskent.co.uk.

He commented: "It's understandable if not well advised to leave asbestos in the workplaces of adults, but I think to have it in schools is dangerous."

Mr Lees explained to the newspaper that the problem with asbestos is people do not realise when they are in contact with it and can be exposed day after day.

However, Steven Ladyman, MP for South Thanet, told the newspaper that it could be safer to leave asbestos intact in school buildings rather than disturb it, but pointed out that future developments will be free of the material.

Recently, Emma Corfield, managing director of specialist occupational health consultancy Core Surveys, said that more awareness of asbestos facts is needed, the South Wales Argus reports.

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Field Fisher Waterhouse recovers record compensation in asbestos cancer case

Law firm, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, has recovered more than £250,000 in compensation at the High Court on behalf of a widow whose husband died from mesothelioma, an asbestos related cancer.

Mr John Lambie of Spalding in Lincolnshire died in November 2006 at just 62. He died from mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by exposure to asbestos. He was exposed to asbestos between 1965 and 1970 when he worked for New Century Group Ltd, based in Harlesden, London, as an industrial cleaner, cleaning factories and bakeries all over the South East. His job involved cleaning the asbestos corrugated roofs of factories and cleaning pipes lagged with asbestos.

His widow, Jane Beesley, who has now re-married, nursed him during his illness at home. In addition to general damages, the Judge awarded £25,000 compensation to Mrs Beesley for the care and assistance she gave to her dying husband which is the highest ever award for care and assistance in a mesothelioma claim.

Harminder Bains, lawyer in the Asbestos Claims Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse, was instructed to claim compensation from New Century Group Ltd on behalf of Mrs Beesley. The total award, which included interest, was £253,310. This includes the sum of £72,000 for pain and suffering, one of the highest awards for this type of case, and £25,000 for the care and assistance given by Mrs Beesley, which is the highest ever award for this item in a mesothelioma case.

Harminder Bains, the lawyer who dealt with the case, at Field Fisher Waterhouse said: "Mrs Beesley attended to all of her dying husband’s needs in an attempt to give him some comfort. I am satisfied that in this case the Court recognised the extraordinary effort it takes to look after a dying man. I hope it is recognised in future cases"

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