Baron & Budd Announces Louisiana Jury Award of $3.625 Million in Asbestos-Related Death Case; Plaquemine Jury Says Employer Failed to Warn about Deadly Asbestos Dangers.PLAQUEMINE, La. -- The Dallas law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., has announced a $3.625 million jury award delivered last night on behalf of the family of a Plaquemine-area man who died from an asbestos-related cancer nearly 40 years after first being exposed to asbestos asbestos, mineral asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. . The jury of four men and eight women delivered the verdict following a two-week trial before Judge James Best James Best (born July 26, 1926, in Powderly, Kentucky) is an American character actor best known for his role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He has two daughters, Janeen and Jojami, and a son named Gary. of the 18th Judicial District Court for the Parish of Iberville. Jurors deliberated for one hour before finding that Plaquemine, La.-based Hebert Brothers Engineers Inc. failed to warn Alfred Watts about the dangers of asbestos exposure while he worked for the company from 1963 to 1994. "Today's verdict proves what the Watts family has said all along," says Lawrence G. Gettys of Baron & Budd, counsel for Mr. Watts' surviving family members. "Hebert Brothers failed to warn Mr. Watts and many other employees about the dangers of asbestos." Cameron Waddell of Baton Rouge Baton Rouge (băt`ən r  zh) [Fr.,=red stick], city (1990 pop. 219,531), state capital and seat of East Baton Rouge parish, SE La. , La.'s LeBlanc & Waddell, LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol , also represented Mr. Watts' widow, Rosa Lee Watts, and the couple's adult children. The verdict, which was handed down at approximately 6:30 p.m., included a total of $3.625 million in actual damages Noun 1. actual damages - (law) compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensatedcompensatory damages, general damages . Jurors in the case heard how Mr. Watts was exposed to asbestos for decades while working as a laborer for Hebert Brothers, which did work for The Dow Company in Plaquemine. In June 2001, Mr. Watts was diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. . He died less than four months later on Oct. 31, 2001. The effects of asbestos exposure, including the onset of asbestos-related diseases like lung cancer, can take years or even decades to surface. Nearly 40 years passed before Mr. Watts began showing symptoms of lung cancer. Hebert Brothers was represented at trial by Edward E. Rundell of Alexandria, La.'s Gold, Weems, Bruser, Sues & Rundell, APLC APLC A Professional Law Corporation APLC Australian Plague Locust Commission APLC Alliance Pour La Caledonie (New Caledonia) APLC Abiding Presence Lutheran Church APLC Advanced Placement Language and Composition APLC Anterior-Posterior Lower Cervical . If you would like more information on today's verdict, please contact Bruce Vincent at 214-559-4630 or pager 888-361-8452. |
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