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Asbestos Lawsuit in Reversal

Mississippi asbestos lawyers are concerned that a sizeable award to the victim of asbestos exposure who developed mesothelioma may be reversed as the case is heading to appeal for alleged bias.

Lawyers representing the producer of the asbestos-containing products argue that the judge that presided over the initial trial was biased as his father had previously filed two asbestos lawsuits for his mesothelioma.

The appeal would put at risk the $322 million award that a jury gave to Thomas Brown Jr. last year. The verdict is considered to be the largest on record in the United States for an asbestos-related mesothelioma lawsuit.

Asbestos was used in thousands of industrial, manufacturing and consumer products throughout the middle of the twentieth century for its durability and resistance to heat and electricity.

However, researchers have long since linked inhalation of the substance to mesothelioma, a cancer affecting the heart, lungs or abdomen. The disease can take 20-50 years to surface after exposure and has no known cure.

Complicating treatment of the disease is the fact that it is only treated successfully if it is detected very early. This is often difficult due both to the long latency period and the fact that the symptoms of the disease mimic those of other, less serious conditions.

The defendant in this case, Union Carbide, is asking that the $322 million verdict in this case be thrown out since Circuit Judge Eddie Brown did not recuse himself from hearing the case even though it later came out that his father had filed asbestos lawsuits on two previous occasions.

The information was revealed to the court when Judge Brown reportedly remarked to the jury that his own father had been exposed to the deadly asbestos substance while working as a shipbuilder.

The attorneys for the companies named in the asbestos lawsuit, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Union Carbide Corp., argue that the circumstances of the judges father’s cases are actually similar to those in this case.

They also argue that Judge Brown showed obvious bias in favor of the injured plaintiff during the trial. Attorneys representing Tony Brown Jr. pointed out, however, that the defendants did not ask the judge to recuse himself during the trial until the jury award was handed down.

Although the use of asbestos is now heavily restricted in the United States, thousands of Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year as the devastating effects of the substance continue to surface in the workers who came into contact with it decades earlier.