| Widow Wins $10 Million in Asbestos Suit
A jury awarded $10.4 million to the widow of a former shipyard worker who died of lung cancer after four years of working with materials that contained asbestos. The Newport News Circuit Court verdict in Wanda Jones' wrongful death lawsuit against three companies that manufactured the materials was handed down Wednesday, the first anniversary of the death of 60-year-old Buddy Jones. "It's a mixed day," Wanda Jones said. "At least there's been some justice and recognition for what he went through, certainly through no fault of his own. He just went to work and did what he was trained to do on the job." Her attorney, Robert Hatten, called the verdict a landmark because one-third of the judgment will come from John Crane Inc., which has refused to settle other asbestos cases.
MP slams decision to ditch asbestos drug
ROCHDALE MP Paul Rowen has slammed the ‘disgraceful' decision to withdraw a vital drug used by people fighting the deadly asbestos disease mesothelioma. He says the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) decision to withdraw the drug Alimta for NHS patients has been done for purely financial reasons. It will affect scores of people in Rochdale, which has an above-average number of mesothelioma sufferers because of the town's past links with the asbestos industry. The Turner Brothers complex at Spotland was once the largest asbestos factory in the world. Mr Rowen said: "I find the decision of Nice to be disgraceful. They have quite obviously put money before people's suffering and I am shocked. "Experts have told me the Nice appraisal cost around £1M, yet the cost of using this effective drug is estimated to be only £3M a year.
Asbestos: Armley's Mesothelioma sufferers offered 17% of due ...
Asbestos victims who suffered from the deadly asbestos cancer mesothelioma though working in or proximity to a Leeds factory will receive just 17p in the pound of compensation awarded by the courts if they accept a "final" settlement from the factory's owners. The J W Roberts factory in Armley spewed out deadly asbestos dust for decades before closing in 1958 with the dust affected not only hundreds of workers, but also their families and people who lived around the site. Hundreds of victims contracted asbestos-linked lung cancer mesothelioma, creating what came to be known as the Armley asbestos tragedy after the Yorkshire Evening Post exposed the scandal in the late 1980s. Mesothelioma is incurable and victims usually die within three years of diagnosis. A ground-breaking court action against the factory's US owners, Turner Newall, by Leeds cancer victim June Hancock in the 1990s resulted in a compensation award which was seen as a precedent for hundreds of victims.
Hardie fund a mystery that needs solving
WINSTON Churchill described Russia as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, which can also be applied to the developing debacle around the latest attempt to coax money out of James Hardie for the victims of asbestos poisoning. The riddle is the Tax Office's ruling that the new entity set up by James Hardie - working title: Special Purpose Fund (or SPF) - is not a charity, thereby threatening the December deal to keep money flowing to asbestos victims. The mystery is why this fund had to be set up at all. Why not use the existing charity with an Orwellian name, the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation (MRCF), which has been channelling compensation to James Hardie's victims? And the enigma is: why do investors think James Hardie's liability to its victims has been capped, and are optimistically bidding up its share price? It has not been capped; the liability each year is limited to 35 per cent of cash flow but the time for paying it is open-ended, and on one assessment the potential future claims are equal to the company's entire intrinsic value.
Asbestos settlement: after five years, Washington workers to vote ...
Thousands of asbestos victims will vote on an offer of compensation which will see them get 60% of what is due. The former Washington Chemical Company workers have fought a long battle for compensation after exposure to asbestos by the company. But people who were affected by living near the plant will only get 20% of their award if the offer is accepted. The award, if accepted, will utilise a £36m compensation cash pot, frozen for five years, which has finally been made available. Parent company Federal Mogul went into administration in 2001, freezing compensation payments. If the company hadn't gone into administration, sufferers would have got 100% compensation. This week claimants will receive a 500-page document from Federal Mogul administrators laying out terms of the latest offer and former workers, many of whom suffer from mesothelioma, will now vote on the settlement.
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