Mesothelioma Lawyers Baron And Budd Highlight Young North Texas Woman’s Mesothelioma Diagnosi

DALLAS, Dec 17, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The case of a young North Texas woman diagnosed with mesothelioma highlights the risk of developing the disease through secondhand exposure to asbestos, the mesothelioma law firm of Baron and Budd reports.

Mesothelioma is a cancer that can attack the lining of the lungs, the abdomen, and, in some cases, the heart. It is only caused by exposure to asbestos – tiny fibers that can be either inhaled or ingested. Despite the well-documented cancer risk, asbestos is still not fully banned in the United States.

A December 1, 2014 article in the San Antonio Express-News detailed the case of 37-year-old Stephanie Harper, who lives in Bonham, TX. According to the article, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the age of 22, and attributes that diagnosis to inhaling asbestos fibers that were attached to the clothes of her father, who worked as a handyman.

Baron and Budd, one of the first law firms to ever file a mesothelioma lawsuit, represents many women whose lives have been turned upside down by mesothelioma. Most of these women developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to their husband’s or father’s work clothing. All amounts are net, meaning the amounts actually received by clients.

Below are some of the mesothelioma lawsuits Baron and Budd has won on behalf of female clients who developed the disease after secondhand or household exposure to asbestos:

$2.7 million for a woman who was exposed to asbestos fibers brought home on the clothing of her father, who worked in Illinois steel mills.

$2.1 million for a woman whose father worked in the construction industry and brought home asbestos fibers on his clothes.

$2.05 million on behalf of a woman who inhaled asbestos fibers after handling the clothing of her husband, who was a construction contractor.

$1.8 million for the family of a woman who died of mesothelioma at the age of 44. She was exposed to asbestos as a child through the work clothes of her father.

“It is a travesty that legislators have failed to ban asbestos time and time again,” said , president and managing shareholder of the mesothelioma law firm Baron and Budd. “However, we will continue to aggressively represent clients who have contracted mesothelioma due to the negligence of companies that produced asbestos-laden products.”

A mesothelioma lawyer with Baron and Budd may be able to help if you or a loved one contracted the disease. Please call us at 1.866.855.1229 or  to learn whether or not you may be able to pursue a mesothelioma lawsuit.

About Baron & Budd

The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Austin and Los Angeles, is a nationally recognized law firm with almost four decades of experience "Protecting What’s Right" for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd’s size and resources enable the firm to take on exceptionally large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals, governmental and business entities in areas as diverse as PCB contamination in schools, FLSA (overtime) violations, pharmaceutical and medical implant injuries, water contamination, GM ignition problems, California Proposition 65 violations, mortgage and credit card fraud and asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma.

SOURCE: Baron & Budd, P.C.

Baron & Budd, P.C.Susan Jones Knape, 214-629-0596sknape@baronbudd.com

Copyright Business Wire 2014

$18.5M Awarded Over Fatal Asbestos Exposure At Central Arkansas Brake Shop

After a three-week trial in a Little Rock federal courtroom, a jury awarded more than $18.5 million Tuesday to the family of a man who worked at a brake shop in the city in the 1970s, exposing him to asbestos in brake-shoe linings.

The verdict, published Wednesday in electronic court records, was against Honeywell International Inc., which years ago bought Allied Signal, a company that had acquired Bendix in 1984. Bendix was one of the principal manufacturers of brake-shoe linings in the country. When Honeywell bought Allied Signal, it also bought all of the company's liabilities.

Benjamin Braly, a Dallas attorney who tried the case on behalf of the estate of Ronald Burlie Thomas, a former Arkansan who developed mesothelioma in March 2017 and died Dec. 31 of that year at age 72, said he found the verdict "validating." But Braly said he was disappointed that jurors didn't also hold Ford Motor Co. liable for Thomas' suffering and death. Ford manufactured some of the cars on which Thomas installed the brake shoes, but other American automobile manufacturers had been absolved of asbestos liability as a result of bankruptcy filings years ago.

Mesothelioma is a fatal, progressive and incurable cancer of the lining around the lung and is a sign of exposure to asbestos. Braly said the disease takes 20 to 50 years from the time of first exposure to develop, and that latency period is why asbestos lawsuits continue to be filed across the country, despite increasing awareness over the years of the dangers of the product. He said the product causes genetic errors, eventually causing the coating that allows the lungs to slide over the ribs to thicken and harden until it hurts to breathe.

Thomas worked at Stuart's Brake Shop in Little Rock and North Little Rock from 1971 until 1983, performing 10 to 12 brake jobs every day during some periods, according to court documents. Braly noted that the shop, which is still open in North Little Rock, was owned then by Stuart Flanders, but has different owners now. He said Thomas moved to Texas in 1984 and was still living in the state, in Midland, when he was diagnosed.

Thomas held other jobs, too, but because his greatest exposure to asbestos was at the brake shops in Little Rock and North Little Rock, "we feel like it made more sense to file [the 2017 lawsuit] in Little Rock," Braly said Wednesday.

He said he isn't expecting Honeywell to appeal the verdict because of a negotiated settlement before the verdict that covered a range of verdicts.

The verdict, delivered late in the day Tuesday in the courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, assigned 18.75 percent of the fault to Honeywell. Jurors also found that Ronald Thomas was 5 percent at fault, and that two other companies that settled their portions of the case before trial -- Pneumo Abex LLC and Genuine Parts Co., also known as Napa -- each bore 9.375 percent of the fault. Jurors attributed the lion's share of the fault -- 57.5 percent -- to "other parties."

Jurors awarded $216,000 for Thomas' loss of life, $5 million for his pain and suffering and $341,979 for his medical expenses. Thomas' wife was deceased, but the couple's son and two daughters, all of whom live in Texas, were each awarded $1 million for anguish. The jury also leveled $10 million in punitive damages, answering yes to the question, "Do you find, by clear and convincing evidence, that Honeywell International Inc. knew or should have known that its conduct would naturally and probably result in injury and that it continued such conduct in reckless disregard of the consequences of its action?"

Braly said Bendix "knew they had a problem" but instead of trying to find a solution, they "turned a blind eye" to it.

Braly is with the law firm Dean Omar Branham & Shirley in Dallas, which he says has 50 to 100 active mesothelioma cases underway across the country, but, "This was my first trial."

While he is a first-year trial lawyer, he said, he has been a part of several other mesothelioma trials over the past 10 years.

George Wise of the Brad Hendricks Law Firm in Little Rock was local counsel on the plaintiffs' side.

Metro on 01/31/2019

Print Headline: $18.5M awarded over fatal asbestos exposure at central Arkansas brake shop

Mesothelioma Wrongful Death Lawsuit That Resulted In $9 Million Verdict Involves Dow Chemical

DALLAS — A wrongful death lawsuit against Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. resulted in a $9 million jury award for the family of a former Dow worker.

The mesothelioma law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C.

, of Dallas, Tex., who died from mesothelioma after working for years as a Dow contract employee, where he was allegedly exposed to asbestos contained in Dow insulators on a regular basis.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Robert Henderson, deceased, his wife Tanya Henderson and daughters Adrienna and Za'Quoia. Attorney's John Langdoc and Alana Kalantzakis proved that Henderson's exposure to asbestos while working at the facility caused his mesothelioma.

"We verified that Mr. Henderson was one of many workers who was exposed to asbestos at Dow Chemical and later came down with an asbestos cancer," said Langdoc, in a statement. "Dow knew workers could get cancer."

Dow Chemical officials said they will appeal the verdict, indicating that jury sympathy for the Henderson family played more of a factor in the verdict than the evidence presented,

.

"Dow Chemical wrote it themselves in 1968, 'any death due to mesothelioma would be considered due to asbestos exposure' and then inexplicably went on to expose workers to asbestos for decades thereafter," said Steve Baron head of the firm's asbestos litigation section. "Our goal is always to reach a pretrial agreement with the other side, but Dow Chemical refused to settle, so we presented our case to the jury.”

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