When Anita Creutzberger was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma at the age of 85, her family filed suit against her husband’s former employer, Ford Motor Company. After the company was discovered to have withheld evidence in violation of discovery rules, the court imposed a “significant” sanction that went beyond the jury’s $800,000 verdict. This week the New Jersey state appeals panel refused to set those sanctions aside, calling the company’s actions “exceptionally troubling.”
Woman’s Mesothelioma Blamed on Asbestos on Husband’s Clothing
After Mrs. Creutzberger succumbed to her mesothelioma in 2008, her family pursued a personal injury lawsuit against Ford. They claimed that her illness was caused by asbestos carried into the family home on her husband’s clothing during the thirty years that he was employed as a service manager for Ford and Lincoln automobile dealerships.
Over several years, the mesothelioma victim’s family had attempted to obtain Ford’s corporate training materials to support their claim that no warning had been provided to dealerships regarding the dangers of asbestos in brake dust. Rather than produce the information, a corporate representative testified that he had been unable to locate it, and that none of the manuals were found.
Sanctions Follow Revelation of Hidden Evidence in Mesothelioma Case
In response, Mrs. Creutzberger’s mesothelioma attorney confronted Ford’s representative with a copy of the manual and he admitted to having seen it previously, and even to having answered questions about it in previous asbestos cases. The court imposed a penalty of $14,419.30 against the company for violating its rules, and this got added to the jury’s $800,000 verdict. Ford appealed both the decision and the sanction.
In its decision on the appeal, the court ordered that the jury be told that Ford had withheld evidence. They entered a final judgment of $1 million representing the jury award, interest, and counsel fees. The appeals panel declined to disturb the sanctions, calling the discovery violation “an exceptionally troubling and deliberate disregard of the court’s authority.”
The road to justice can be long for mesothelioma victims. For information on the process and the resources available to you, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.
