Marc P. Weingarten, a partner in the Philadelphia office of Locks Law and Joseph M. McGill, a senior associate in that office recently were successful in the jury trials in Philadelphia state court for two gentlemen who tragically died of mesothelioma. The cases were tried together, in a consolidated manner, before one jury. One man died of mesothelioma at the age of 93 and was awarded $492,000. The other gentleman died of mesothelioma at the age of 63 and was awarded $732,000.
These trials were unique because the only exposure they had to asbestos was in the installation and repair of automobile brakes and clutches. These so-called friction defendants have a scorched earth policy of never settling cases, although in these cases they offered each plaintiff $100,000 to settle before the trial began. The 93 year old victim was able to prove his case against Bendix and the other gentleman proved his case against Borg-Warner.
The defendants claimed that the type of asbestos in their products could not cause asbestosis and that the plaintiffs would not have been exposed to sufficient quantities of their product to cause any disease, but the jury believed the testimony of the expert witnesses called to testify by Marc and Joe and found for the plaintiffs.
This trial took almost one month in court and is a phenomenal result. If you would like to discuss these cases please contact Marc at 215.893.3404 or mweingarten@lockslawpa.com or Joe at 215.893.3426 or jmcgill@lockslawpa.com.
