ALTON, Ill. – Three asbestos verdict wins totaling more than $130 million by Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation’s largest mass torts firms, have ranked in the Top 100 Verdicts for 2018 list. Compiled by VerdictSearch, an affiliate of The National Law Journal, the list appeared in the legal publication on June 1.
All three verdicts were secured on behalf of workers diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos, after suffering decades of exposure to the carcinogen either throughout their career or military service. Two of the verdicts were awarded in New York Court Asbestos Litigation (NYCAL) and the third in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Ranking 34th on the list, on April 9, 2018, a New York jury awarded $60 million to Pietro Macaluso against three different boiler manufacturers. He had been exposed to asbestos during his career as a laborer working on boilers made by the defendants. The verdict was the largest, single plaintiff verdict in NYCAL history.
Simmons Hanly Conroy’s second highest ranking on the list was for an Aug. 7, 2018, verdict in favor of Walter Twidwell. Exposed to asbestos-containing gaskets made by Goodyear during his 20-year service in the U.S. Navy as a boiler tender and fireman, the $40 million verdict stands as the largest, pure compensatory verdict in NYCAL history. The trial lasted three weeks, and the jury deliberated less than two hours. It is listed at number 60.
The final verdict featured on the list, at number 75, is a $30 million award to Norris and Lori Morgan, on Nov. 15, 2018. Diagnosed with mesothelioma, Mr. Morgan worked as a construction supervisor in southern California and was exposed to asbestos-containing transite pipe sold by J-M Manufacturing (JM-M). The trial lasted three weeks, and the jury deliberated for five hours.
The annual list ranks verdicts based on the amount awarded by the jury; it does not account for judicial reductions, offsets or appeals. Information is compiled from the nation’s court records, as well as from practitioners and other ALM Media LLC publications. The full list is available on the National Law Journal website here (subscription required).
