Jury Awards $35.2 Mil. to Texaco Workers Suffering from Asbestosis

BEAUMONT, Texas - A jury in Texas has awarded $35.2 million to 22 retired Texaco workers who claimed they developed asbestosis after more than twenty years of exposure. Wells, et al. v. Flexitallic Inc., et al., No. A-161,748 (Texas Dist. Ct., Jefferson Cty.)

The Feb. 14 verdict was entered in Jefferson County District Court before Judge James Mehaffy three days after the jury began deliberating.

The plaintiffs, who worked in the Port Arthur refinery from 1940 through the 1970s, claimed defendants U.S. Gypsum and Flexitallic were strictly liable for defects in their products and that they were negligent in failing …