Career Painter And Texas Native Receives One Of The Largest Mesothelioma Verdicts Of Its Kind
Dallas (PRWEB) July 13, 2012
In March 2010, Baron and Budd obtained an $11 million verdict for the family of a mesothelioma patient. Vernon Walker, a mesothelioma patient and career painter, and his wife, Patsy Walker, were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Baron and Budd mesothelioma attorneys John Langdoc and Alana Kalantzaki represented the Walkers and proved that Mr. Walker's mesothelioma was caused by his work with asbestos-containing painting products despite continued asbestos industry arguments that certain types of asbestos are "safe." (Vernon Walker Sr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. RPM International, Inc., et al., Defendents, District Court of Harris County TX, No. 2009-52642).
Mr. Walker, 67, began his career stocking the shelves at a local grocery store for a modest 50 cents an hour. Mr. Walker became a union painter and was able to triple his salary. As a painter he worked in the construction of homes, skyscrapers and strip malls. Mr. Walker was exposed to numerous asbestos containing painting products, including texturing paints, block fillers and drywall compounds, through his work. Some of the materials he used were banned by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1978 as being "unreasonably dangerous" and likely to cause cancers such as mesothelioma from exposure. While the CPSC instructed the asbestos industry that use of these products as few as four times would result in thousands of superfluous cancers, commercial painters like Mr. Walker worked with the contaminated products most workdays before the products were banned.
"The asbestos industry has spent decades developing false science used to argue that asbestos is safe," said mesothelioma attorney John Langdoc. "Asbestos industry witnesses in this case continued to push asbestos industry false science that the shape or the length or even the mining location of the asbestos fibers sold by these companies meant they could not cause cancer, which has been rejected by every mainstream scientific organization in the world, and fortunately rejected by this jury."
Mr. Walker and his wife were awarded approximately $11 million by the jury. Dow Chemical subsidiary Union Carbide was apportioned 40 percent of the blame, with the remaining liability falling on manufacturers Kelly Moore, Georgia Pacific and Bondex. Many of the companies reached a settlement before or during trial. Bondex was the sole remaining defendant when the final verdict was reached.
Learn more about mesothelioma lawsuits at Baron and Budd's website http://baronandbudd.com or visit the firm's dedicated mesothelioma website http://www.mesotheliomanews.com.
About Baron & Budd, P.C.
Dallas-based Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Baton Rouge, Austin and Beverly Hills, is a nationally recognized law firm with more than three decades of experience representing people and communities harmed by corporate negligence. The firm resolved one of the first asbestos cases in the United States in the 1970s and continues to serve people diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer.
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