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Million Dollar Awards Can Amount to Much Less
In August, a San Francisco Superior Court jury awarded $10.3 million in economic and non-economic damages in an asbestos case brought by a 60-year-old man allegedly suffering from mesothelioma. Barnes v. Thorpe Insulation Co., 446017. It may be one of California's 10 largest compensatory verdicts for asbestos cases in the last 15 years.
Unfortunately for the plaintiff, George Barnes, even in the best scenario, however, he will not collect anywhere near that amount. The jury only attributed 15% of the harm to Thorpe Insulation Co., the lone named defendant at trial. By the time the judge makes a final ruling on the company's liability, Barnes will probably only be entitled to about $2.3 million from Thorpe. Furthermore, Thorpe may not have the assets to pay; the plaintiff's law firm, San Francisco's Levin Simes Kaiser & Gornick, is now bracing to go to battle against the insulation company's insurers over coverage.
The jury identified $9 million in non-economic damages for physical pain or mental suffering in its special verdict. The rest, all economic damages, included $210,000 for medical bills, $861,083 for past and future income, and $178,974 for the loss of Barnes' services around his family's 2-acre property. It found his wife's loss of consortium worth another $100,000. There were no punitive damages. The jury attributed 15% of Barnes' harm to Thorpe, 5% to the plaintiff himself, 55% to his former employer, the U.S. Navy, and 25% to other manufacturers and distributors. Barnes did settle with several other defendants, but the details were confidential.
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