Jury Returns $12 Million Verdict for Two Plaintiffs' Asbestos Claims

PHILADELPHIA -- A Pennsylvania jury has awarded separate $5 million and $7 million verdicts to two floor tilers whose asbestos injury claims were consolidated for trial. Urbach v. Amtico, No. Aug. 2003, 26-38; Hood v. Georgia-Pacific, No. March 2003, 34-70 (Pa. Ct. Comm. Pls., Philadelphia Cty.).

In a Feb. 15 verdict, jurors in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas awarded plaintiff Jim Urbach $5 million and plaintiff Donald Hood $7 million for their alleged asbestosis in phase one of the bifurcated proceedings. Owens-Illinois and Georgia-Pacific, defendants in Hood, settled after opening arguments took place in the liability portion of …