Phone: (516) 487-8207
Jury awards $3 million to potter's widow in asbestos case By Jeffrey Gold, AP Business Writer | November 16, 2006 NEWARK, N.J. --A jury on Thursday awarded $3 million to a woman who claimed her husband, a potter, died because he contracted a fatal disease from asbestos fibers inhaled while working with a material he used for glazes. Article Tools Printer friendly E-mail to a friend Conn. RSS feed Most e-mailed Share on Facebook Save this article powered by Del.icio.us More: Globe City/Region stories Latest local news The verdict is the first in the nation dealing with asbestos in industrial talc, said Carmen St. George, a lawyer for Bonnie L. Parker, widow of Peter Stanley Hirsch. Over the past several decades, billions of dollars have been paid in settlements or verdicts to people sickened by exposure to asbestos, a material once widely used in construction and ship building. It has been linked to cancer and other problems. The Middlesex County jury that awarded the compensatory damages to Parker is to return Nov. 28 to consider punitive damages against the two defendants, R.T. Vanderbilt Inc., which mined the industrial talc, and Hammill & Gillespie Inc., its distributor, St. George said. Parker said her husband initiated the lawsuit, and tried to survive mesothelioma, an aggressive lung cancer. "He had his life taken away prematurely," Parker, 58, of Pennington, said in a phone interview. "This verdict is where he is vindicated, where he does beat it." The couple were married for 22 years. Hirsch had pottery studios in Skillman, Lawrenceville and Lambertville before being diagnosed in September 2002. He died April 4, 2004, at age 53, St. George said. Messages left at R.T. Vanderbilt, based in Norwalk, Conn., after business hours Thursday were not immediately returned. Hammill & Gillespie, of Livingston, N.J., would have no comment, said a vice president, Dorna Isaacs. According to lawyers for Parker, R.T. Vanderbilt claimed that the talc contained fibers that "looked similar to but were not a lethal form of asbestos." The six-person jury in New Brunswick reached its verdict following a four-week trial, according to the lawyers. St. George said Vanderbilt mines the industrial talc in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., and the material is used in a variety of products, including plastics, rubber and ceramics. She said Vanderbilt faces lawsuits from miners and others who have died. Industrial talc is not the same material as the talcum powder used on a "baby's bottom," she said. Her colleague on the case, Moshe Maimon, said Vanderbilt needs to take action as a result of the verdict. "Not only must their own workers be protected from lung disease, end users and others who come into contact with the product must be warned properly of the carcinogenic fibers lurking in this dusty powder used in so many manufacturing applications," Maimon said. The lawyers are with New York law firm Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, which is known for its work in asbestos cases.
Read More About ury awards $3 million to potter's widow in asbestos case...