February 27th, 2008

Two year after an Illinois man dies from mesothelioma, a jury awarded his widow and family more than $2 million. The lawsuit was against the victim’s former employer.

Alleging that the dangers of asbestos exposure were hidden from an Illinois man, the widow of a mesothelioma victim was awarded $2.6 million this week after a jury decided that there was proof that employers and insurance companies were negligent. The widow was suing on behalf of her late husband, who died in 2005 from mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure. The man had worked at a rubber and asbestos company in 1962 and 1963.

Evidence was brought forward that the company employing the victim in those two years agreed to hide the dangers of asbestos exposure. The insurance company covering the asbestos plant agreed that the dangers of breathing in asbestos fibers should not be brought to the attention of plant workers. Like many cases of mesothelioma, the disease did not manifest in the 1960s, when the victim worked in the plant. The cancer took decades to be diagnosed, and the victim did not live long enough to hear the verdict finding fault with his employer.