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Plaintiffs v. Heavy Equipment Manufacturer

June 2009

Sedgwick obtained a defense verdict after a six-week asbestos trial. The plaintiffs brought a personal injury action against numerous defendants, including our heavy manufacturing client, alleging that the plaintiff’s lung cancer was attributable not only to his smoking 1 1/2 to 2 packs of cigarettes a day for 50 years, but also by his alleged exposure to asbestos over his 29-year career as a heavy equipment mechanic working with asbestos-containing products manufactured, distributed and sold by the defendants. Sedgwick argued that the sole cause of the plaintiff’s lung cancer was in fact his heavy smoking. At the end of a six-week trial, the jury returned a defense verdict for the defendants, finding that the plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos was not a substantial factor in causing his lung cancer.