Jury Awards $7.4 Million to Mesothelioma Victim
It took a Chicago jury just five hours to conclude that two asbestos companies were responsible for former brick mason Alonzo J. Cain’s malignant pleural mesothelioma. Over the course of a two-week trial, the group heard evidence that compelled them to order two defendants to pay the 76-year-old $7.4 million to compensate for his pain, suffering, and medical expenses.
Mesothelioma Victim Had Been Brick Mason
Mr. Cain was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma in early 2023. He immediately began treatment at the University of Chicago and simultaneously began a search for answers to where he’d been exposed to asbestos. He landed upon two specific companies that had exposed him six decades earlier, during his years working at Inland Steel after a brief period of Army service in Korea
The two companies that Mr. Cain named in his mesothelioma lawsuit were Foseco, the manufacturer of asbestos-containing hot top boards used in his employer’s steel-making process, and Paul J Krez, Inc., a contractor that had been installing and removing asbestos-containing pipes in the vicinity of where he had been working. He recalled the significant dust that had been created during this work, and that he and his co-workers had breathed in that dust and been covered with it.
Chicago Jury Awards Mesothelioma Victim $7.4 Million in Compensation
In addition to describing the asbestos particles that floated in the air while the maintenance work was being done in his workplace, the mesothelioma victim explained his work process with the hot top boards to the judge and jury. Expert witnesses provided further testimony about the link between asbestos exposure and the rare form of cancer, as well as about the disease itself.
Though both companies argued against being held responsible for the victim’s fatal illness, the jury was convinced of their role in his mesothelioma. They allocated 30% liability to Foseco and 70% to the contractor that had raised such a significant amount of asbestos dust in his presence.
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