Company Attempts to Avoid Compensating Deceased Asbestos Victim’s Family
After a Pennsylvania construction worker contracted and died of mesothelioma, allegedly from an asbestos-containing joint compound used by the worker, the manufacturer initially avoids compensating the family when a Philadelphia court rules in favor of the company.
Although the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County initially ruled in the favor of Georgia-Pacific, Pennsylvania Superior Court later overturned the ruling, allowing the family another day in court.
The manufacturing company attempted to avoid compensation by requiring the family to produce evidence of each separate instance in which the man came in contact with the asbestos-containing material, asking the family to produce documentation of exact days and times.
Following the reversal of the decision by the Superior Court, counsel for the family was reported as stating, “Georgia-Pacific cannot evade liability for harm caused by a worker’s exposure to the company’s asbestos-containing joint compound simply by suggesting that we have to present proof of every individual time this worker was exposed to Georgia Pacific’s product. And the Superior Court of Pennsylvania saw through Georgia-Pacific’s attempts to shirk its responsibility in that manner.”
The case will be retried in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania based on its merits.