Workers’ families win $9.6M jury award in asbestos suit

A jury has awarded more than $9.6 million to the families of four deceased workers who were exposed to asbestos in their work in Baltimore and died of lung cancer.

The Baltimore City Circuit Court jury awarded the verdict against Wallace & Gale Co., which was found negligent and strictly liable. Wallace & Gale is a Baltimore-based insulation contractor.

Cross-defendant MCIC Inc., known as McCormick Asbestos Co., was also found liable. McCormick agreed to a confidential settlement with the workers’ families before the trial.

Attorney Michael Edmonds said both companies provided products to the men’s workplaces that contributed to their deaths. His firm, the Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl, represented all four families.

An employee at Wallace & Gale said no one was available to comment on the outcome of the case.

“The families were all very emotional … and it was just difficult to put them on,” Edmonds said. “That takes a toll on everybody, the attorneys as well as the family members. I think the jury saw it and understood what they’d been through.”

Both Levester James and the Rev. Rufus Carter worked at the American Smelting facility in Baltimore, which later changed its name to ASARCO Inc., while Roger Hewitt and Mayso Lawrence worked at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point steel mill.

The men were between the ages of 65 and 81 when they died. Each had asbestosis before their lung cancer was found. Following their diagnoses, the men were given between two and 14 months to live.

“All of them are painful courses; seemingly the longer it is the worse it is,” Edmonds said.

Edmonds had asked for about $18 million in all for the plaintiffs, $3.7 million in the survival action and between $200,000 and $500,000 for each of the more than 20 claimants in the wrongful death actions.

Carter, whose family was awarded $1.02 million for his asbestos-related lung cancer and $1 million for the loss of their father, had four children. James’ three children won $1.04 million for his cancer and $1 million for his loss of life.

Hewitt’s three children were awarded $1.7 million for his asbestos-related cancer and $950,000 for the loss of his life. Lawrence’s family, which included seven children, won more than $530,000 for his illness and $2.4 million for his death.

Maryland‘s cap on noneconomic damages in asbestos cases applies only to wrongful-death claims. Edmonds said the cap likely will apply to Lawrence’s $2.4 million award, meaning the size of the verdict could shrink. He said the firm would contest the application of the cap.

A jury composed of three men and three women took three days to decide on a verdict.

“We thought the jury did a good job,” Edmonds said. “We talked to them afterwards. They certainly had taken good notes, took pains to get the details right.”