A jury in Pennsylvania returned a $7 million verdict recently in favor of the family of a man who died of exposure to asbestos while working at a Koppers building in Ross, Pennsylvania and at two other locations. The jury found Koppers Co. Inc., which was taken over by Beazer PLC in 1988, to be responsible for 40% of the damages. The building was owned by Koppers Holdings Inc., Downtown, which was later sold off by Beazer. Dravo Corp., (which was acquired by Belgium’s Carmeuse Group), and Fisher Scientific International Inc., (part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), were each found to be responsible for 10% of the damages. The remaining damages will be split among a litany of other defendants, mostly companies that made and sold asbestos products.

The asbestos victim worked on and off as a union contractor in the Koppers building for about seven years, beginning in 1968. He worked for Dravo and Fisher Scientific. All three job sites contained asbestos, but Koppers hid what it knew about the dangers. Even though it knew of the damages, Koppers failed to warn anybody about what it knew. The employee died at 68-years-old in 2006, about six months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma — a cancer formed by exposure to asbestos. In 2006, as part of a separate case, an Allegheny County judge ruled that Koppers officials knew of the dangers of asbestos since 1918, when it was a member of the National Safety Council. Rick Nemeroff, a Dallas lawyer, represented the family and did a very good job.

Source: Tribune-Review

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