Jurors Award $13 Million in Asbestos Case, Allocate 5 Percent Liability to Kaiser Gypsum

SAN FRANCISCO –– San Francisco jurors have awarded more than $13 million in an asbestos case brought by a former electrician and boiler tender in the U.S. Coast Guard, allocating five percent liability to lone remaining defendant Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc.

Judge Suzanne Bolanos of the California Superior Court for San Francisco County presided over the trial, which was tried in two phases over a period of 10 weeks.

The claims were asserted by Melvin Desin, who worked as a boiler tender in the U.S. Coast Guard for two years before embarking on a 40-year career as an electrician, according …