Jury awards $20M to worker’s grandchild in asbestos case 

Posted: 5:57 pm Fri, October 30, 2009
By Steve Lash
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

A Baltimore City Circuit Court jury on Friday awarded more than $20 million to a University of Maryland nursing professor who contracted mesothelioma from being exposed to asbestos while washing the work clothes of her grandfather, an insulation worker, in the late 1960s.

Jocelyn Farrar, 57, was diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer in June 2008. While in her late teens, Farrar helped with the laundry at her grandparents’ Silver Spring home, according to trial testimony.

Her grandfather, John Hentgen, worked at the Forrestal Building in Washington from December 1968 through the following spring. Insulation for the building was provided by Georgia Pacific Corp., the defendant in the case.

The jury returned with its $20,272,000 damages award after a two-week trial, presided over by Judge Barry G. Williams.

“She feels vindicated,” said attorney Armand J. Volta Jr. of the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos PC, which represented Farrar.

Georgia Pacific’s local attorney, Vincent J. Palmiotto of Miles & Stockbridge PC, did not return a telephone message seeking comment late Friday afternoon.

As part of her medical treatment, doctors have removed Farrar’s right lung. The tumors are not progressing and her prognosis is good, under the circumstances, said Volta.

Of the award, $18.5 million was for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering; $1.6 million was for lost earnings and earnings capacity; $97,000 was for past medical expenses and $75,000 was for future medical expenses, Volta said.

The award is not subject to Maryland’s statutory cap on non-economic damages because that limitation does not apply to asbestos exposure that occurred before July 1986, Volta said.

In a news release announcing the verdict, Angelos’ firm stated that the award was the latest in a string of multimillion-dollar wins.

“We’ve represented a lot of them, unfortunately,” Volta said, referring to the seriousness of mesothelioma.

According to the National Cancer Institute, symptoms of mesothelioma might not appear until 30 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, weight loss, bowel obstruction and anemia, according to the institute’s Web site.