Goldberg, Persky and White, West Virginia’s leading Mesothelioma lawyers, are proud to announce a West Virginia Jury has awarded their client, the family of an asbestos lung cancer victim, $1.8 million in what is believed to be the largest asbestos disease verdict in the history of West Virginia asbestos litigation. Most asbestos cases that go to verdict, especially in West Virginia, are for mesothelioma. It’s unusual to go to verdict in lung cancer cases. It shows exposed people are getting lung cancer in addition to mesothelioma.
In this Wayne County case, the asbestos victim had been a steel worker at the Steel Mill in West Virginia for some 30 years. Just 15 years after retiring, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The victim passed away in July of 2017 at the age of 70. GPW Mesothelioma attorneys Jay Bedortha and John Kelsey represented the family of the victim and was able to convince a Jury that the defendant, a Cleveland-based engineering company, knew as far back as 1965 that the asbestos products it sold to the Steel Mill caused cancer. Further, that the company failed to put warning labels on their products and sold those cancer-causing products to others, while secretly protecting its own workers from asbestos.
After a two-week long trial the jury agreed with the plaintiff’s, and found the company guilty of negligence and wanton misconduct. The wanton misconduct finding was key to obtaining a significant award to fairly compensate the victim’s family. West Virginia cases are complicated and you need an experienced West Virginia lawyer to get you the compensation you deserve. If only negligence was found by the jury, even though the defendant was responsible for the death, the asbestos company would have been protected by the West Virginia Republican jury “cap” of $500000. for a wrongful death regardless of what a jury found fair and the jury would never be told. (unfortunately in West Virginia if you have enough lobby dollars you can buy a special interest law for yourself from the republican politicians in the legislature. Rental car companies, asbestos product manufacturers and doctors have gone to the GOP pay window so far to buy protection from constitutionally created jury accountability). A West Virginia mesothelioma verdict from our firm can truly make a huge difference for victims of mesothelioma, work with a GPW Lawyer today!
