By Allen Eraut
We wanted to pass along a recent King County, WA asbestos verdict. The jury awarded $975,000 in a wrongful death mesothelioma case against Elementis Chemical as successor to Benson Chemical Corp. Here are details:
Plaintiffs: Edward Leren as executor of estate of Marvin Leren (worked in a brick facing manufacturing plant).
Represented by: Bergman Draper Oslund, LLC
Defendant: Elementis Chemical Inc., as successor to Benson Chemical Corp.
Verdict: $975,000 under theory of products liability for distributing John’s-Manville asbestos fibers to Leren’s workplace. Defendant was found not liable on the negligence claim.
Marvin Leren:
Jo LeFebvre (step-daughter):
This award is significantly less than the recent Coogan verdict in neighboring Pierce County ($81 million), and lower than the two most recent verdicts in King County ($3.5 and $6 million). We have heard there are at least $140,000 in offsets further reducing the verdict. The case turned on the successor liability issue, which is currently up on appeal.