$16.5 Million Settlement Won by Asbestos Mesothelioma Victim

Weitz & Luxenberg Secures $16.25 Mil Jury Verdict in Asbestos Case
Complex litigation tackled exposure from dental tape

NEW YORK, Aug 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- On Friday, June 27, 2008, Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. ( www.weitzlux.com) achieved a $16.25 million verdict in an asbestos lawsuit on behalf of Marvin Penn, 71, diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma, and his wife Josephine Penn. The jury attributed 20 percent of the liability to the sole defendant at trial, Kerr Corp., a dental supply company. The case, which clears a new path to justice in asbestos litigation, is believed to be the first successful asbestos verdict against that type of defendant.

Douglas D. von Oiste, Weitz & Luxenberg trial team attorney and lead counsel said, "The jury believed Mr. Penn and did not believe Kerr's defense that the product it distributed did not release harmful asbestos dust, and that Kerr could not have known at the time that it was dangerous."

Marvin Penn was a mail carrier from 1963 to 1999, though, in considering a career change, attended dental technician school in the late 1960s. It was there that he was exposed to asbestos while making castings by carving wax replicas of teeth using asbestos-containing dental tape.

The complex case (Index no. 105637/07, New York Supreme Court, Manhattan) involved a three-week trial featuring state-of the-art medical experts, which culminated in the verdict against Kerr. The jury attributed 20 percent of liability to another dental supply manufacturer, Dentsply Corp, f/k/a Randsom & Randolf, which settled before the verdict.
The trial also addressed Penn's other exposures to asbestos. He testified that he worked in a post office across from the former location of the World Trade Center while it was being sprayed with asbestos. The spray was found to be 40 percent liable.

Additionally, Todd Shipyards was found 20 percent liable given that Penn's father worked there as a steamfitter. Family members of workers exposed to asbestos are at risk due to the asbestos dust brought into the home on the shoes, clothing, skin, and hair of workers.

The Weitz & Luxenberg trial team included Douglas D. von Oiste and asbestos trial attorney James C. Long, Jr. The judge was the Honorable Marilyn G. Diamond.
Weitz & Luxenberg is known for spearheading asbestos cases, among others, securing a $37 million asbestos verdict in 2007 in two lung cancer cases in a reverse bifurcated trial. The firm also won a $25 million jury verdict in 2006 in a trial against DaimlerChrysler AG for a New York City brake reliner who lost his right lung to mesothelioma. In 2002, the firm won a $53 million verdict for a brake mechanic suffering from mesothelioma, and a $49 million verdict for a boilermaker who died from mesothelioma.
People who have been injured by asbestos can contact Weitz & Luxenberg. Interested parties should visit our website, www.weitzlux.com.

About Weitz & Luxenberg P.C.

Weitz & Luxenberg, founded in 1986, is one of the leading plaintiffs' litigation law firms in America. The firm has played leading roles in national and local litigations involving asbestos/mesothelioma, defective medicines and medical devices such as Heparin, Digitek and Ortho Evra, and general negligence, among others. A forerunner in the legal fight against environmental polluters, Weitz & Luxenberg has worked with clients harmed by MTBE among other toxins. The firm recently secured a landmark MTBE settlement against some of the country's biggest oil companies, which have agreed to pay $423 million in a suit involving the contamination of 153 public water systems nationally.

SOURCE: Weitz & Luxenberg P.C.
Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C.
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