After Jim Katcham died of malignant mesothelioma in 2022, his family filed a personal injury lawsuit against notorious asbestos company John Crane, Inc., saying occupational exposure to the company’s asbestos-containing product forty-five years earlier had caused his death. Last week, a jury hearing his claim ordered the company to pay his survivors $3.45 million in damages.
Millwright’s Mesothelioma Blamed on Asbestos in John Crane Parts
The 11-day mesothelioma lawsuit was heard in Newport News, where the jury heard details of the retired millwright’s exposure to asbestos in gaskets and packing made by John Crane, Inc. while maintaining and repairing pumps, valves, and other equipment at the DuPont Spruance plant in Chesterfield County between 1961 and 1979. Those parts were designed to help seal steam pipes, but manipulation and wear and tear led to microscopic particles being released into the air, where Mr. Ketchum inhaled them.
Included in the evidence presented to the jury was a deposition the mesothelioma victim provided before his death, in which he described making asbestos gaskets with a ball peen hammer and removing asbestos gaskets with scrapers, hand wire brushes, and power wire brushes. According to the family’s attorney, Mr. Ketchum’s work environment was filled with the asbestos particles that led to his mesothelioma, and John Crane, Inc. had a responsibility for warning him and other workers in the DuPont factory about the danger that breathing in the fibers represented.
Jury Agrees that John Crane Was Aware of Dangers
The jury was presented with evidence showing that by the time the mesothelioma victim was working at the factory, the dangers of asbestos were well known to the scientific community and that the company had been given documents in 1972 by the Illinois Pollution Control Board explaining how even minimal asbestos exposure led to mesothelioma. Despite this, the company waited until 1983 to provide any warnings to customers.
The jury, hearing of the family’s loss and the suffering the mesothelioma caused Mr. Ketchum before his death, agreed that the company had breached its duty of care “by selling unreasonably dangerous products without warning” and ordered the company to compensate the victim’s family.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net have the resources you need. Contact us today at 1-800-692-8608 to learn more.
