CHARLESTON, W.V. –The Lanier Law Firm is announcing a liability verdict issued late yesterday in Charleston, W.V., against industrial manufacturer John Crane Inc. after jurors found that the company’s asbestos-laden products caused a retired pipefitter to contract the deadly lung disease mesothelioma.
Robert L. Wood and his wife Candice were represented at trial by attorneys from the Houston and Los Angeles offices of The Lanier Law Firm and the Mt. Pleasant, S.C., office of Motley Rice. The Lanier Law Firm team included attorneys Patrick O’Hara and Robert Leone from the firm’s Houston office.
“This was a hard-fought verdict won for a deserving family,” says Mark Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm. “Today’s decision can’t restore Mr. Wood’s health, but it will help his family deal with the financial burdens of mesothelioma.”
The unanimous verdict was handed down in the Charleston circuit courtroom of the Hon. Ronald Wilson following two hours of jury deliberations. The case damages were stipulated prior to the liability finding.
Mr. Wood, a resident of Wheeling, W.V., was diagnosed with mesothelioma two weeks before Christmas in 2009. He had worked as a pipefitter for a local union for more than 41 years. Jurors heard how Mr. Wood handled John Crane gaskets that contained dangerous levels of asbestos, the leading cause of mesothelioma, and how company executives knew about the dangers of asbestos as early as the 1930s.
In the verdict, the six-member jury found that John Crane was negligent for failing to warn Mr. Wood about the dangers of its products and that the company’s gaskets were defective.
The case is Robert L. Wood, et al. v. John Crane, Inc., et al., No. 10-C-91.
With offices in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York, The Lanier Law Firm is committed to addressing client concerns with effective and innovative solutions in courtrooms across the country. The firm is composed of outstanding trial attorneys with decades of experience handling cases involving pharmaceutical liability, asbestos exposure, intellectual property, business litigation, product liability, maritime law, bad faith insurance claims and sports and entertainment law.
