Virginia Family Recovers $9.25 Million in Mesothelioma Claim
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The widow of a New Port News shipbuilder, who died from exposure to asbestos while working at a New Port News shipyard, recovered a verdict of 9.25 million dollars for his death.
The verdict was awarded by a jury in State Circuit Court in Virginia.
The verdict was returned against two suppliers to the shipbuilding injury: John Crane, Inc. and Garlock Sealing Technologies. John Crane, Inc. is a multi-national company that manufactured gaskets and sealants made with asbestos. Garlock Sealing Technologies is a Palmyra, New York company that made the same products.
Sixty percent of the 9.25 million dollar verdict was required to be paid by John Crane, Inc. Garlock Sealing Technologies would have been required to pay forty percent of that judgment. However, that defendant settled with the widow for an undisclosed amount prior to the jury verdict. Of course, the jury was not told of this settlement with Garlock Sealing Technologies. The net effect is that the widow probably has recovered a substantial amount from Garlock and, if the jury's verdict is upheld, she will recover an addition 5.55 million dollars to be paid by the defendant John Crane, Inc.
The victim, Vaughn Oney, left a wife of forty-three years. Mr. Oney retired in 1994 when he was in his early fifties and was in good health. Between 1963 and 1973, Oney was sometimes in contact with asbestos daily. One of the many horrible aspects of mesothelioma is that it can remain dormant in the body for as long as forty years. As was the case with Mr. Oney, most victims do not realize they have the disease until they begin experiencing symptoms several decades later. Mesothelioma typically kills within two years of the initial diagnosis. Mr. Oney was diagnosed in 2004.
A year before the Oney verdict, the family of Buddy Jones, another New Port News ship yard worker who died from mesothelioma, recovered 10.4 million dollars. The New Port News area of Virginia has a high proportion of persons who work in the ship building industry. The ship building industry used asbestos heavily and most of its workers were exposed to asbestos before the product was outlawed.
Many residents of Harnett, Cumberland, Sampson, and Johnston Counties worked in the New Port News ship building industry, especially during World War II and for several years thereafter.
Many local textile workers were also heavily exposed to asbestos before it was outlawed.
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For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Workplace Injuries and Discrimination.