Jury finds for defense in $50M asbestos case

Attorneys who in 2013 secured a $38 million verdict by convincing a Richland County jury that their client developed mesothelioma after years of asbestos exposure failed to convince a Greenville County jury of the same in a similar case.

Ethel Muldoon sought $50 million in the death of her husband, Joseph, contending that 23 years of working on brakes at his Pennsylvania Sunoco station caused the mesothelioma that took his life. Named as defendants were makers of nearly every vehicle Joseph worked on as a mechanic.

Defense attorney Daniel White of Gallivan, White & Boyd argued that while brakes do contain asbestos, it is a less dangerous form calledchrysotile. White said he believes that amphibole is a much more toxic form of asbestos and that Muldoon was exposed to it while serving in the Navy and during a 20-year period he spent working in a New Jersey plant.

White, who represented Ford Motor Company, said the four-week trial was one of the longest civil trials in Greenville County’s recent history.

PRODUCTS LIABILITY

Injuries alleged: Death from mesothelioma

Case name: Ethel D. Muldoon, individually and as personal representative of the estate of Joseph H. Muldoon v. American Honda Motor Company, et al.

Case number: 2013-CP-26-7636

Court: Greenville County Court of Common Pleas

Judge: Garrison Hill

Date of verdict: Oct. 27

Amount requested: $50 million

Attorneys for plaintiff: Thiele Mcvey of Kassel McVey in Columbia and Jessica Dean of Simon, Greenstone, Panatier, Bartlett in Dallas

Attorneys for defendants: Daniel White and Curtis Ott of Gallivan, White & Boyd, Greenville; Shepherd Wainger from Norfolk, Virginia; Kirk Warner from Raleigh.