A Los Angeles jury awarded over $200 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages to a 71 year old woman suffering from mesothelioma and her family. Rhoda Evans, and her husband, Bobby Evans, were awarded at total of $8,821,015 in compensation for the family’s economic loss and for Rhoda’s pain and suffering. The total of the mesothelioma verdicts was $208,821,015.
Mrs. Evans contracted mesothelioma from the asbestos dust that her husband brought home on his work uniform every day during the early 1970s. At the time, Mr. Evans was an employee of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and his regular job duties included cutting asbestos cement pipe for the City and County of Los Angeles.
Neither Mrs. Evans nor Mr. Evans were aware of the asbestos hazard at the time. Certainteed manufactured the asbestos cement water pipe. Certainteed knew about the risk of getting mesothelioma from the release of asbestos fibers while cutting its water pipe. Certainteed also knew about the risk of getting mesothelioma when exposed in low doses and was aware of the risk to household members from exposure to the clothes of family members working with their product. Certainteed failed to warn users of the mesothelioma risk.
