High Court Refuses to Limit Asbestos Awards
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to limit the amounts of money won against asbestos manufacturers by people whose exposure to the much-used substance caused health problems.
The justices, without comment, turned down appeals by Johns-Manville Sales Corp., which changed its name to Manville Corp., and Raybestos Manhattan, two of the nation’s largest manufacturers of asbestos products.
Tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the health effects of asbestos. The inhalation of asbestos fibers has been linked to lung cancer and other diseases.
The welter of lawsuits caused the Manville Corp. in 1982 to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
In the appeals filed Monday, lawyers for the two corporations said a “uniform federal rule of damages” is needed to “justly govern awards in nationwide litigation.” The appeals sought to limit the amounts of compensatory-damage judgments and the number of punitive-damage awards won by workers injured by their exposure to asbestos.
The appeals grew out of three cases, one from Mississippi and two from Tennessee.
In one, a jury awarded James L. Jackson $345,750 in actual damages and $500,000 in punitive damages against Manville and an additional $125,000 in punitive damages against Raybestos Manhattan. The awards were upheld by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jackson labored as a sheet metal worker at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., from 1953 to 1971. He was exposed to asbestos insulation and cloth.
In 1978, Jackson sued after he was diagnosed as suffering from asbestosis, a respiratory disease.
In one of the Tennessee cases, a federal jury in Knoxville awarded James O. Cavett $800,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages against Manville in 1982. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the awards.
In the second Tennessee case, Elmer and Mary Jo Cathey sued numerous manufacturers of asbestos. Cathey had worked as an insulation worker for 29 years before he was forced to quit in 1980 because of breathing problems. He later was diagnosed as having asbestosis.
A federal jury in Nashville awarded the Catheys $12,000 in compensatory damages, but the judge refused to let the jury consider awarding punitive damages. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back for a new trial, instructing the judge to allow punitive-damages consideration if the jury rules for the Catheys.
