Mesothelioma Lawyer - Asbestos Attorney
Juror 251: Well, two uncles had cancer, they were mechanics. Our union did a study on their members. I am a mechanic, and it was like 97 percent of them tested had some problem with asbestos. I have eaten a lot of it over the years brakes, clutches up until gets in the air hose, blows it out, you spit black dirt for two days. . . . .
Mr. Kristal (counsel for Kirk): Do you think that will affect your ability to listen to the evidence and be fair to both sides in this case?
Juror 251: Well I could only try to be fair is all I could say. I guess in a way I got to be a little one way, I'm probably high on the priority list myself. I've been a mechanic since 1957, up until when they stopped using it, you know, you took a clutch out of a truck, hit it with the air hose and the whole shop is black. . . . .
Mr. Kristal: If I didn't prove my case, or show that Mr. Kirk didn't have asbestos disease or I was unable to show Owens-Corning Fiberglas was liable, would you be able to return a verdict against my client?
Juror 251: I wouldn't have any problems at all.
Mr. Kristal: [I]f I had proven the case, would you be able to find in favor of my client?
Juror 251: I might lean the other way because I have been there. I know a lot of members who have been down that road, you know.
Mr. Kristal: Can you put [your past experience with asbestos] behind you and decide this case on what you hear in the courtroom from the witness stand and follow the Court's instructions?
Juror 251: I believe I could.
Mr. Hewitt (counsel for Owens-Corning): Your two uncles had cancer?
Juror 251: Yes.
Mr. Hewitt: Do you believe those cancers were related to asbestos?
Juror 251: I don't know. They both had lung cancer.
Mr. Hewitt: Were they around asbestos?
Juror 251: Mechanics the same as I am, both smoke, so it's anybody's guess.
App. 68-70.
The Court: He thinks he has asbestos coursing through his system. . . . .
The Court: I just want to clarify in my own mind, you have been exposed to the brake linings and flakes from brake linings?
Juror 251: Yes.
The Court: For many years now?
Juror 251: Yes, sir.
The Court: And you think that probably asbestos fibers made their way in through your own system because when you had the air hose - -
Juror 251: You see our Local, I am a member of the Local, and when all this asbestos problem came out, the Union started testing some of the older members. It was like they finally knocked it off like 97 percent of the people tested, tested positive for asbestos. And back then, we didn't know nothing about it. You took brakes off the truck, took the air hose blew it off, disk, clutch, all asbestos, and I said yesterday, I probably had eaten a couple of pounds of it, and I have never been tested for it, but I have been subject to it.
The Court: If you are on this case you would be deciding certain questions, concerning somebody who died of asbestos exposure, how much money to award. Do you think because of your own personal experience perhaps to a certain extent because of your uncles, you are not sure of the cause of the death, whether cigarettes or something to do with asbestos, do you think you could be fair or would you be inclined --
Juror 251: Like I said, most of what I seen has been against it. I would have to sit and listen to the case. If the one attorney can prove that it wasn't, I could handle that. But at this point right now I only know the one side of it.
The Court: The way it's going to be, the plaintiff has the burden of proof, not the defendant. And do you think you could decide the case fairly or do you think because of your own personal experiences you would be sort of caught up in it and tend to favor the plaintiff?
Juror 251: I think I could do it fairly. I have been a shop steward for 35 years. Lots of time I have to go against the company. That didn't sit too well but I think I could sit and listen to the facts. . . . .
Juror 251: I think I could weed through it. Most of the information I have has been from the side of the Union coming with the asbestos. And really, it's a one-sided argument. . . . .
Mr. Hewitt: I think you indicated earlier that you would lean a little - -
Juror 251: Well, at this point I would have to be [a] liar if I said to you -- the facts that I had lean in favor of the possibility or the possibility of it happening. I haven't really had any, a lot of facts thrown to me, where it is not, and like I said, I would have to hear what they have to say, and determine from that. I just can't crystal-ball, say this gentleman is going to convince me that the client, his client did die from it. I just have to listen to the facts, and just understand all the facts that I had about it have been the negative, from your standpoint, so I would have to weed out one or the other.
Mesothelioma Lawsuits
More than 7,000 mesothelioma lawsuits have been filed since the inception of asbestos litigation in the early 1970s. Malignant mesothelioma is believed responsible for an estimated 200,000 deaths worldwide, with more than 2,000 new cases being diagnosed each year in the United States alone.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma, contact a mesothelioma lawyer or asbestos attorney to get information about your right to compensation.