Harry Chirdon was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma after a lifetime of having worked as a boilermaker. He and his wife filed a personal injury lawsuit against his former employer, Foster Wheeler, charging the company with neglecting to protect its employees from being exposed to asbestos. An Allegheny County jury agreed and awarded the company to pay the couple nearly $4 million in damages.
Foster Wheeler’s Negligence Blamed for Man’s Mesothelioma
The Pennsylvania jury that heard evidence in the case filed by Harry and Rae Chirdon learned that amid the several decades he had worked as a boilermaker, he spent ten weeks as an employee of Foster Wheeler, a company that the jury learned “is in the business of providing engineering services, manufacturing boilers, and servicing boilers throughout the United States and around the world.”
Though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had established specific regulations to protect workers from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, Foster Wheeler failed to adhere to these requirements. Though the company’s attorneys argued that other companies that owned the site were responsible for worker safety, the jury agreed that it was Foster Wheeler’s failures that caused Mr. Chirdon’s fatal illness.
Jury’s Mesothelioma Award Includes $1.5 Million in Punitive Damages
To address his mesothelioma, Mr. Chirdon has been treated at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he underwent a surgical resection of his left lung. After hearing testimony from his physician and other expert witnesses, as well as learning about how the 76-year-old had been involved as a volunteer driving children from the Amish communities to a hospital in Philadelphia before his diagnosis, the jury awarded him and his wife $2.3 million in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, help is available. Contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net at 1-800-692-8608 today to learn more.
