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A Southern California jury ordered a Hunterdon County engineering and construction firm to pay $5.2 million in a case related to asbestos exposure after it's been proved that the company acted with malice.
$2 million of the $5.2 million total award was for punitive damages.
The decision was taken by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Foster Wheeler Corp., a company based in Clinton was asked to pay the survivors of Richard Walmach, a career naval machinist who died from mesothelioma in 2006. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer, usually found in those exposed to asbestos, in the form of a malignant tumor in the mesothelium of the lungs and or abdomen.
Walmach had claimed in his suit that the company failed to reveal asbestos risks to the employees. Unfortunately he died shortly after filing the suit.
Foster Wheeler Corp. is a longtime supplier of boilers, steam generators and other power equipment to the U.S. Navy. They have nominal headquarters in Bermuda and operational headquarters in Clinton.
According to lead plaintiff's attorney Sean P. Tracey, this was the first time that the company was ordered to pay punitive damages. There were 20 other asbestos-related suits against the company and they were found liable for $100 million in general damages.
According to Kevin M. Loew, another plaintiff's attorney, the original lawsuit named 21 companies however, all except Foster Wheeler managed to reach confidential settlements before trial. The trial took place in Los Angeles as several defendants have headquarters there.
Walmach, who spent most of his career at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, had to use jackhammers to remove asbestos-packed insulation from Foster Wheeler boilers. In the remaining part of his 37-year career, he was with the Long beach Naval Shipyard in the 1960s when asbestos was being removed there.
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