Despite Asbestos Company’s Objection, $10.4 Million Mesothelioma Award is Upheld

Is $10.4 million in damages unreasonable when it’s paid to two daughters who’ve lost their father to malignant mesothelioma? That’s the question that a Louisiana appeals court had to decide recently. A jury hearing a claim against Union Carbide Corporation awarded David Strauder Jr.’s daughters $4.85 million in survival damages, judicial interest dating back to the petition date, and another $2.75 million each in wrongful death damages. When the company appealed the verdict, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision.

Pipefitter’s Malignant Mesothelioma Death Left Daughters Bereft

The claim filed by Mr. Strauder’s adult daughters accused Union Carbide of negligence in having exposed him to asbestos. He had been a pipefitter from the 1960s to the 1980s, and had worked at various shipyards and industrial facilities where he worked with and was exposed to numerous products that were contaminated by asbestos. As part of the testimony in the trial, the jury heard of the extraordinarily close relationship between the father and his daughters, and of their significant mental distress at his suffering and his death.

Included in the testimony that the jury heard were details about how the daughters had both spent almost every day with the mesothelioma victim for several years, eating dinner with him and living within a few miles of his home. The two women had cared for him during his illness, taking him to doctor’s appointments and arranging for hospice care, and both were left in extreme distress by his death. The jury responded to this testimony by awarding the women a total of $5.5 million in wrongful death damages beyond compensation for economic damages.

Union Carbide Calls Mesothelioma Damages “Grossly Excessive”

In arguing against the mesothelioma verdict, Union Carbide argued that the evidence presented at court did not support the high dollar figure: they called it “wholly inconsistent” with previous damage awards and “grossly excessive.” In response, the court noted that juries are given a wide berth and vast discretion when it comes to what they provide to plaintiffs seeking compensation for wrongful death. The grieving women will be permitted to keep what the jury felt was appropriate for their loss.