$3.6 Million Awarded to Broward County Couple in Secondhand Asbestos Exposure Case
A Broward County Jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, awarded a local couple $3,606,000 in a lawsuit alleging secondhand work-related exposure to asbestos. Lynda Daly, 57, a resident of Broward County, Florida since 1998, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May 2007—a deadly form of lung cancer directly linked to asbestos exposure.
Mrs. Daly's exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when she worked for two Ford dealerships in Wisconsin for about two years. The lawsuit blamed secondhand exposure to asbestos found in auto brakes made by Ford Motor Co. and Pneumo Abex. Mrs. Daly says she was further exposed to asbestos when she assisted her husband, Michael Daly, with repairs to brakes on their personal vehicles around the same time.
As in Mrs. Daly's case, mesothelioma is known to lie dormant in the body for decades. But once the cancer is diagnosed, the victim often has less than a year to live. Though Ford and Abex denied responsibility in this case, the Broward County Jury rejected their defense and instead relied on expert testimony presented by doctors from cancer centers in Florida and Massachusetts.
Mesothelioma has been medically proven to be directly linked to exposure to asbestos. The exposure may be firsthand, when someone works directly in or around materials containing asbestos. Secondhand exposure may occur when a person working in or around asbestos unknowingly brings home fibers on their clothing and exposes their families, or when someone works in proximity to others who work in or around asbestos.
Prior to the 1980s, asbestos used in manufacturing, construction, automotive and other industries was not subject to the same U.S. government safety regulations as it is today. (Asbestos was banned from use in new buildings in 1988.) Sadly, because the cancer may lie dormant for decades, people with work-related asbestos exposure, and their families who have secondhand exposure, continue to get sick and perish.
Ft. Lauderdale Jury Awards Couple over $3 Million in Secondhand Asbestos Exposure Case The Wall Street Journal MarketWatch Nov. 4, 2008
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