New York Jury Renders $1.5 Million Verdict Against Retailer Sears, Or Did It?

CANTON, N.Y. - A jury in upstate New York has awarded $1.5 million to a mesothelioma patient in what could be the first such judgment rendered against a retailer who sold asbestos-containing products. Plumb v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., No. 106851 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., St. Lawrence Cty.).

The landmark verdict was handed up Sept. 29 in Saint Lawrence County Supreme Court, where the jury determined that exposure to products Howard Plumb bought from Sears nearly 50 years ago caused him to develop his illness.

The jury found that Sears, the only remaining defendant in the case at the trial's completion, …