Maryland’s Highest Court Reverses Take-Home Asbestos Verdict, Cites ‘Skimpy’ State of Knowledge

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s highest court has reversed Georgia-Pacific’s portion of a $20 million asbestos verdict awarded to a woman who was exposed to asbestos from washing her grandfather’s dust-laden clothing for several months in the 1960s.

In the July 8 opinion, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed an intermediate appellate ruling affirming the verdict, concluding in its decision that “given the somewhat skimpy state of knowledge regarding the danger to household members from asbestos dust brought into the home prior to the adoption of OSHA regulations in 1972, the inability to give warnings directly to household members like the …