December 2nd, 2005

A multi-million dollar asbestos verdict awarded to a former paper mill worker has been reversed by the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland. The three million dollar award was made after the plaintiff claimed that his lung cancer was the result of working at a paper mill plant where he alleges he was exposed to asbestos.

The reversal of the verdict comes after the courts decided that the company named as the defendant, Scapa Dryer Fabrics Inc, should have been given additional time in order to prepare a defense. The case has been passed over to the Baltimore City Circuit Court for a new trial to be set.

The plaintiff in the trial, Carl Saville, had claimed that his asbestos exposure and subsequent lung cancer came from cleaning the conveyor belts on the machines at the mill. Reports state that only two out of the hundreds of belts there during his employment were asbestos belts, and that there were also other places and sources from which asbestos could have come.

Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. wrote for the court: "During his employment Saville was exposed to asbestos used in, among other things, pipe insulation, gaskets, cement, turbines and boilers."