Navy Family wins $1.2 Million Asbestos Lawsuit Award

The family of a retired Navy sailor who developed mesothelioma cancer from his exposure to asbestos on the job has been awarded $1.2 million in damages. Virginia resident Gerald Gray was exposed to asbestos decades ago when he was stationed aboard a ship for four years and following that duty, was stationed at a Navy shipyard. At one time he was the second highest ranking enlisted man in on active Navy duty. The defendant in the case, John Crane Inc. is a company that made asbestos gaskets and packing materials for marine engines.




The only known cause for mesothelioma is asbestos fibers, which can be inhaled without knowledge in the presence of asbestos products that are damaged or aging. The asbestos lawsuit was heard in a Newport News courtroom, where the jury awarded a total of $4 million in damages against five defendants. Four of the defendant companies had settled out of court prior to the verdict, while the John Crane Company chose to fight the accusation. Among the complaints in the case is the fact that asbestos manufacturers such as Crane turned out their products without warning users of the potential danger involved in installing and using asbestos materials.




This is not the first asbestos liability suit the company has faced. In 2008 a San Francisco court awarded a plaintiff suffering from an asbestos-caused disease the sum of $3.9 million; this complaint evolved from the use of Crane asbestos products while working at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.




Navy veterans and shipyard workers have proven to be extremely high risk groupd for the development of mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer - all caused by asbestos. Every shipped commissioned by the Navy between 1930 and the early 1970s was loaded with asbestso, used as insulation for boilers, engine rooms and piping systems. Thirty percent of all mesothelioma victims in the United States are military veterans.




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source : http://www.asbestosnews.com/