EX-LOCKHEED WORKERS WIN RECORD DAMAGES.

Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer

A state court jury awarded $760 million in punitive damages to 38 former Lockheed Corp. employees who claimed they were exposed to toxins while working on stealth fighters at the company's Burbank facility.

Following a $25.4 million verdict for compensatory damages in the same suit a week ago, lawyers said Friday that the payout was the largest by a jury in California history.

Lawyers for the five defendant companies said they would appeal what they called a ``travesty of justice.''

The workers claimed they contracted cancer, skin ailments, breathing problems, psychological damage and other conditions because of inadequate warning labels on dozens of chemicals and solvents.

All of the damages came against five chemical manufacturers - Exxon, Shell Oil, Ashland Inc., Unocal Corp. and DuPont Co. Lockheed settled out of the lawsuit for $33 million in 1992.

``Needless to say, we are extremely happy about the results,'' the workers' lawyer, Thomas Girardi, said in a statement. ``Certainly, the jury's award will help workers and consumers all over America.''

The lawsuit was one of six that Girardi's firm started filing more than a decade ago on behalf of hundreds of workers who held assembly line jobs in the 1960s, '70s and '80s working on F-117A stealth fighters.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury reached a verdict for punitive damages Thursday. Jurors ordered the five chemical companies to pay a range of damages, starting with Exxon at $252 million, Shell Oil at $236 million, Ashland Inc. at $145 million, Unocal Corp. at $81 million and DuPont Co. at $46 million.

While the workers said they were never advised of the health dangers, lawyers for the companies passed the blame on to Lockheed.

In earlier trials, representatives of the chemical companies contended that the illnesses were not as severe as the lawsuits claimed, and also criticized Lockheed's safety training techniques.

Lockheed's Skunk Works plant produced several top secret planes, including the U-2 spy plane. Residents who lived near the Burbank plant also have filed lawsuits.

In a statement, defense attorney Larry Janssen called the award ``an absolute travesty of justice.''

``The evidence presented to each of the first four juries was virtually identical, but no punitive damages against any of the defendants were awarded,'' Janssen said. ``In the fifth case and in this case, the trial judge directed the jury to find that the defendants had previously been found liable for conduct entitling the jury to consider punitive damages.''

At least two of the defendants vowed to appeal Thursday's verdict.

Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said the jury's decision ``was not based on evidence of conduct.''

Charlotte Howard, a spokeswoman for Exxon, also was critical of the verdict.

``We believe the trial judge made a number of erroneous legal rulings, which have improperly restricted the jury's ability to assess the evidence, witnesses' credibility and to make independent findings of the facts,'' Howard said.

The defendants' lawyers still can ask an appeals court to reduce the punitive damage award or throw it out entirely.

After a different case on behalf of 640 Lockheed workers ended in mistrial five years ago, Janssen said the defendants would never offer a settlement.

``This jury and probably future juries are simply not going to find that the warnings were inadequate or they caused any injuries to those plaintiffs,'' Janssen said in 1993, after a verdict could not be reached.

Half a decade later, Girardi pointed out the defendants' mistake.

``The same arrogance that these defendants had with respect to their warnings was manifested by their refusal to enter into any meaningful settlement negotiations,'' Girardi said.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this story.