Document NGvVEanb4B8qO5V9o92JopDQ8
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POST-GAZETTE: Wed., Dec. S, 1984~~
$1.5 million is awarded in asbestos case
By Susan MvineHa
Poat'Gaan* Staff v.v*
Be 9 years ott *7 d, like mot
bey! hi* *;*% lx Uk-<I lo roughhoose
with Ms fc*r.
Bat the itv.ven? Uha-.ior of <e
fisher il ' uis chiio led to Rfvaood
D. Soitr-'s Ji-iti l:
Iztt* when
be war just 2> >: oR
Sm:V'.> yw^. Ki:.
and
their thrtt sou* r"< and 2, xoe
a v^rdi* to !:,'/ ;;*s rmilioe w
Ail`vbea7 -Co'roty C<v.r..w
Co'-rt last wer's, .:!:.. ':v de:5A
r tL.-t P-nitha 4: :h cs Sept 5,
li'cH, we* ;be
o? exposure to
*v->V* .^-k* lo v&s a `R
Smith. whw :** viking pan*
time *?i& finiaS^ag bis last year of
o;U%c it- Iowa at the Ume of bn
death, fr v op near a PPG Iarfss*
trie* plant in Pert Allegany, Ife*
Keev* County.
Hi* tttJcr, Ite/mood L. Smith,
worked (hers for /our yean -- first
u a "feeder," siitttag opes bit bags
of asbestos and turning themlate
hopper, and then on tte plant's
assembly !&*.
Wi*abecame home at the end of
a day, his vc-r*i clothes, boots and
luKh pail bore the dusty signs of Ms
work > was Uovgfat home some
of the empty ubsstos sacks, which
his wife used to mile curtains for
their 8-by-JS-fcs-t trt'Cw.
Prom 1M4 through 19W, the Smith family did not know the dan* gen associated with asbestos dost
Fifteen yean later,'the forager Smith was diagnosed as baring mesothelioma, a fora of lung can* . cer associated with exposure to as* bestoa dust
. The two*week trial before Coo* son Pleas Judge Silvestri Silvestri was the first ``bystander case" in volving asbestos tried in Pennsylva*
nia, according to attorney Stanley W. Greenfield, who represented
; Dfc-leoe Smith, now of Allentown, Lehigh County.
Greenfield said mesothefcoma "is . known classically to be associated
with asbestos exposure."
He called sev?o medical experts who testified ateet the retettosship between esiKaer* to asbostos and . the disease r*v?%ld said medical liter*tart on the subject shows tut, in 10 nertmt of all documcftied a^4 ot n/.9theiioma, the victims tls-v hi l a hirtety of exposure to the , ct*>j-*cicaing subeUocu.
, If teuitfc Uh v.*i of another type - ci uncer, 0<tsoStiu said, it would
,, have >ceo tougher to prove a rono*
' Utica between Smiths early sipo*
sure to asbestos dost and the
- disrsat.
'
. The fin in the case returned verdict os fl.l$ trJIioo against Caj* Industries Ltd. and it? subsid iary, Cape Asbestos Fibres Ltd. Capa is a Londot-hared mining op* erttion and a dirtribcto*- of asbus 'tea. In addition to the jury's award, Darlene Smith is entitled to
' 145-4,741 in interest payments.
' Pittsburgh Coning Corp. and
.PPG Industries Inc. were named as defendants in the suit, but settin: meets were reached with both of
Use tans. -
03113821
NBBB-0006400