Despite Appeal, $25 Million Mesothelioma Verdict Stands

In 2020, a California jury ordered Fluor Enterprises and Middle East Fluor to pay a mesothelioma victim $25 million. The companies appealed the decision, arguing that the award was excessive and contrary to Iranian law, which they said applied because the victim was injured while he was an Iranian citizen working for the National Iranian Oil Company. They requested that the court set aside the verdict, but the Court of Appeals of California denied their appeal and provided the victims with the costs they incurred to defend against the appeal.

Man’s Testicular Mesothelioma Blamed on Asbestos Exposure in Iran

The original lawsuit was filed in 2018 by Houshang and Soraya Sabetian after Mr. Sabetian was diagnosed with testicular mesothelioma. He blamed his condition — the rarest form of the asbestos-related disease — on exposure to asbestos when he had worked for Fluor Enterprises and Middle East Fluor in Iran between 1959 and 1979.

After the mesothelioma victim and his wife were awarded $25 million in damages by a jury, the companies appealed the verdict. They claimed both that there had been insufficient evidence to support the verdict and that they should not be subject to American law because the man had been an Iranian citizen at the time of his exposure. They also argued that the award was inappropriately high.

Court Upholds Jury’s Mesothelioma Verdict

In handing down their decision, the Court of Appeals of California noted that the subject of Iranian law had never been raised during the trial, and indicated that reversing the jury’s verdict in the mesothelioma case would be contrary to California’s “interest in compensation of its residents according to proof at trial.” 

They also ruled that a motion for judgment notwithstanding the trial was not appropriate because there was sufficient evidence that the companies’ asbestos had caused Sabetian’s mesothelioma to support the verdict. The couple will maintain the award and was also awarded court costs.