Dying Mechanic Awarded $2 Million in Asbestos Case

An 81-year-old retired mechanic who is dying of cancer won $2 million Friday in what is believed to be the first verdict against an asbestos manufacturer involving automobile brake linings.

Although multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and out-of-court settlements have become commonplace for workers exposed to asbestos insulation in shipyards and other construction sites, the asbestos manufacturers traditionally have been absolved of liability in the handful of brake lining cases tried in the country.

Richard Hedblom, who worked as a garage mechanic relining brakes from 1924 to 1960, won the award against Raymark Industries on a 10-2 vote of jurors in the court of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Swearinger.

Hedblom, of La Verne, has mesothelioma, cancer of the lining of the lung, and is expected to live less than a year.

Hedblom’s attorney, Aaron H. Simon, said he hoped the verdict would speed up brake lining manufacturers’ switch-over from asbestos to less dangerous materials. Until recent years, Simon said, about 50% to 70% of the material used in linings was asbestos.

Simon said the case is the first involving brake linings to go to trial in California and the first nationally in which a plaintiff has won.

Garage repair workers like Hedblom, the attorney said, frequently were exposed to asbestos fibers over many years when they ground down and cleaned old brakes and installed new linings. Inhaling asbestos fibers can lead to various lung diseases and cancer.

“I think it is a real satisfying result,” the attorney said of the verdict. “Mr. Hedblom is really pleased. He understands the appellate process, but he is really pleased that he is going to be leaving an estate.”

Simon said Hedblom’s cancer was diagnosed in September, 1983, and has reduced his life expectancy by five years and cause him severe pain and mental anguish.

Raymark attorney Thomas E. Smurro could not be reached for comment on the verdict. An appeal is expected.

The case went to trial less than 1 1/2 years after it was filed under a special state provision permitting immediate trials for people over 80 who are expected to die within a short time. Most civil cases require five years to get to trial.