MARCH 16, 2009 – On March 12, 2009, a Connecticut jury awarded Gail Fortier, the widow of a former Navy firefighter who died from Mesothelioma last year, a $2.59 million verdict last week from Allis-Chalmers Corp. David Fortier was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, in October 2006. He filed a lawsuit in December of 2006, and died of mesothelioma on June 20, 2008, three months shy of his 60th birthday.

Between 1969 and 2002, Fortier worked on the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier, which was built at Newport News Shipbuilding, a shipyard known to be contaminated with asbestos. According to Fortier’s lawyer, David worked in areas of the ship that were heavily insulated with asbestos products which were manufactured by Allis-Chalmers.

This mesothelioma case is noteworthy because it is the first asbestos-related claim to go to verdict in Connecticut in 20 years. A lawyer for Allis-Chalmers said the company will appeal the verdict.

A 20 page report released this week by the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the United States Department of Justice revealed plaintiffs won more than half of all civil trials in state courts in the year 2005.  The report was the first of its kind to represent national statistics for civil trials.

Out of the approximately 26,950 civil trials held in 2005, a jury decided nearly 70% of them.  For both jury and bench trials, plaintiffs won about 60% of trials, or 14,000 cases.   

60% of civil trials involved tort claims, including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, animal attacks, and professional negligence. The most common tort claim involved motor vehicle accidents, which accounted for 35% of civil trials in 2005, or 9,431 trials.

While the median compensatory awards for all trials in 2005 was $28,000, certain tort cases saw much higher awards.  Asbestos related claims, for example, had a median award of $682,000. The largest award was $172 million, a class action lawsuit brought by 116,000 Wal-Mart employees.

Estey & Bomberger, LLP is a law firm with offices throughout the state of California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents and wrongful death accidents. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 672-1036 or visit our web site.