On April 11th, the widow of a former shipyard worker was awarded $5.5 million by a Newport News (VA) circuit court.
Kay Oney, whose husband Vaughn worked for Newport News Shipbuilding for 31 years, says she watched her husband “struggle with cancer for two years†from the time of his diagnosis in 2004 until his death from mesothelioma in November 2006.
According to an article in the Daily Press, the jury trial began in late March and culminated with 2 days of deliberations this week. The seven-member jury decided that Kay Oney was entitled to $9.25 million from two suppliers to the shipbuilding industry – John Crane Inc. and Garlock Sealing Technologies.
It was determined that Crane would be responsible for 60% of that total, or $5.5 million. Garlock would be responsible for the remainder, but because Oney had already settled with Garlock out of court for an undisclosed amount, the jury actually only determined the damages against John Crane Inc.
Oney was pleased with the settlement but is hard-pressed to forget the horrible suffering that asbestos caused her husband, especially in the last several weeks of his life.
“It was some of the worst suffering that I ever listened to,” said Robert Hatten, a Newport News attorney who handled the case for the firm of Patten, Wornom, Hatten and Diamonstein, speaking about a nurse’s testimony at the trial.
“He needed an incredible amount of narcotics to endure the pain every day,” Hatten continued. “It was intractable pain – pain so high that narcotics can’t control it. The last six weeks of his life, he was in horrific condition.”
Hatten notes that the Peninsula Region of Virginia (Newport News, Norfolk, VA Beach) has an unusually high incidence of mesothelioma because so many residents of the area once worked in the shipyards.
“The asbestos industry knew that asbestos fibers could kill you,” Hatten said. “They knew how to prevent it, they knew how to test for it, they knew how to educate and they knew how to warn, but that was not in their financial interest.”
