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Baron & Budd, P.C., Announces $9.3 Million Asbestos Verdict Against Georgia- Pacific in Dallas
Victim Exposed to Asbestos as a Child While Working With Father
DALLAS, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dallas law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., has announced a jury verdict of $9.3 million for the family of an East Texas man who died from a cancer caused by his exposure to asbestos fibers as a child. Baron & Budd attorneys Chris Panatier and John Langdoc, along with Dallas attorney Charla Aldous of Aldous & McDougal represented the family of Timothy Shawn Bostic. Jurors in the case heard how Mr. Bostic was exposed to asbestos while working with his father as a child and teenager in the 1960s and 1970s.
Witnesses testified that Mr. Bostic frequently used an asbestos-containing joint compound manufactured by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corp. Court documents showed that Georgia-Pacific officials knew about the health dangers of asbestos as early as 1967. However, the company continued to sell products that contained asbestos as late as 1977.
In 2003, Mr. Bostic was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. He died at the age of 41 on Sept. 5, 2003, leaving behind his wife, Susan, and son, Kyle.
"This verdict showed the Bostic family that their loss could have been prevented," says Mr. Panatier. "We are grateful that the jury understood the responsibility Georgia-Pacific had in causing the asbestos exposure that eventually took Mr. Bostic's life." The effects of asbestos exposure, including the onset of diseases like mesothelioma and asbestosis, can take years or even decades to surface. More than 35 years passed before Mr. Bostic began showing symptoms of mesothelioma.
He died less than a year after his initial diagnosis. The jury of three men and three women returned the verdict in Dallas Judge Sally Montgomery's County Court at Law No. 3 at approximately 6:15 p.m. on Monday, March 14, 2005. The three-week trial concluded after approximately four hours of jury deliberations. The jury found Georgia-Pacific negligent for failing to warn Mr. Bostic about the asbestos dangers in its joint compound, and awarded Mr. Bostic's family $3.127 million in compensatory damages and $6.2 million in punitive damages. Georgia-Pacific was represented by Mel D. Bailey of Dallas' Bailey / Crowe & Kugler. If you would like more information on today's verdict, please contact us at 1-800-400-1805.
SOURCE Baron & Budd, P.C.
Indian firms bid to dismantle asbestos-laden cruise ship
Oslo, Apr 24: Several Indian firms specialised in ship demolition are angling to dismantle the asbestos-laden blue lady cruise ship, currently in limbo off the coast of Malaysia due to it status as a potential environmental hazard, according to a trade publication.
Citing industry sources from the Indian shipyards of Alang, the largest shipbreaking site in the world, the trade winds weekly said that several Indian breakers had already inspected the cruise liner.
The demolition of large ships constructed with asbestos has been an especially touchy subject since February, when the French government was forced to recall the decommissioned warship Clemenceau, at one time the pride of the French Navy, while it was en route to India for dismantling.
Greenpeace and anti-asbestos campaigners in France and India welcomed the court-imposed decision as a major victory, but shipbreakers in Gujarat said the move would devastate their industry.
"The fuss over the aircraft carrier Clemenceau has died down and the politicians are now making noises over different matters in other parts of India, so business is returning to normal," a ship breaker in Alang told the Oslo-based magazine.
The French-built blue lady, sailing under the names "Norway" and "France" under previous owners, is today the property of Bangladeshi Lokman Hossain, who runs the Chittagong-based Jiri Sudebar steel re-rolling mills, according to trade winds. The vessel's last commercial owner, star cruises, said that the blue lady had been sold, but would not confirm the identity of the buyer.
More asbestos at state park, activists warn
BY TRACY SWARTZ Sun-Times Springfield Bureau
May 19, 2006 - SPRINGFIELD -- Several hundred square feet of asbestos is scattered across more than 100 acres of the Illinois Beach State Park near Zion, according to a complaint an environmental watchdog filed with the Illinois attorney general Wednesday.
State officials say they have cleaned up the cancer-causing material, discovered in the nature preserve in the north end of the park.
Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Marcelyn Love said the debris, which filled two 55-gallon drums, was discovered after a controlled burn in April and collected by early May. The material will be tested and then discarded, she said.
But Paul Kakuris, president of the Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society, said large pieces of asbestos sheeting and piping remain exposed in the park.
"It's all over the place," Kakuris said. "What [the state is] trying to do is cover up the massive new discovery of asbestos ... at the expense of the health and safety of the public."
'Always going to be asbestos'
Asbestos has been washing ashore at the state park since the late 1990s. Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud said the latest discovery probably was left over from demolition of a nearby housing development. McCloud also said a crew comes once a week to check for debris.
"There is always going to be asbestos at the beach," McCloud said. "This is not something that should be of gargantuan surprise."
Kakuris said the public should not be allowed near areas with debris. He is also calling for an investigation by the Illinois EPA.
tswartz@suntimes.com
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