PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (Sept. 22, 2008) Even after exposure to its asbestos-containing joint compound caused a Pennsyslvania construction worker to contract and die of mesothelioma, manufacturer Georgia-Pacific thought it could avoid compensating the victim’s family by requiring them to provide documentation of the precise days and times when the man worked around the product. The Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County initially ruled in favor of Georgia-Pacific, but this week, the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the decision and returned the case to be tried on its merits, according to the plaintiff’s counsel at Baron & Budd, P.C.

Baron & Budd attorney Sharon Bautista was appellate counsel for the family. In the trial court below, the plaintiff was represented by Ben DuBose, Kevin McHargue and Misty Farris, also of Baron & Budd, P.C., and Steven J. Cooperstein, with the Philadelphia firm of Brookman, Rosenberg, Brown and Sandler.

“Georgia-Pacific cannot evade liability for harm caused by a worker's exposure to the company's asbestos-containing joint compound simply by suggesting that we have to present proof of every individual time this worker was exposed to Georgia Pacific’s product. And the Superior Court of Pennsylvania saw through Georgia-Pacific's attempts to shirk its responsibility in that manner,” said Russell W. Budd, managing shareholder of Baron & Budd.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County's decision that the plaintiff, a former construction worker, had insufficient evidence that he had been exposed to Georgia-Pacific's asbestos spackling compound on a regular basis. The court was persuaded both by the evidence of the plaintiff's sons who testified that their father had himself worked with the product numerous times and by another coworker who, though he could not recall a specific occasion on a specific construction site, was able to testify that the plaintiff had worked in close proximity to Georgia-Pacific's product on a regular basis.

The dangers of asbestos exposure were widely known in industry circles for decades before the plaintiff's exposure to Georgia-Pacific's joint compound in the 1970s. Even so, said Bautista, “Georgia-Pacific did not see fit to warn workers about the hazards created when asbestos-containing joint compound is mixed or sanded, or tell them about appropriate safety precautions, even though basic prevention methods have been known since the 1930s.”

The effects of asbestos exposure, including the onset of diseases like mesothelioma and asbestosis, can take decades to surface. The plaintiff worked for a construction company in Pennsylvania in a variety of trades throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He died of mesothelioma in 2004.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

For more than 30 years, the law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. has championed the rights of people and communities harmed by corporate misconduct. With more than 50 attorneys and offices in California, Texas and Louisiana, Baron & Budd enjoys a national reputation as a leader of the plaintiffs’ bar. The firm represents individuals with mesothelioma and other diseases caused by asbestos; injuries caused by other toxic substances and unsafe pharmaceuticals; water authorities seeking clean-up costs for drinking water contamination; government entities and whistleblowers fighting corporate fraud through Qui Tam and False Claims Act cases; securities investors defrauded by corporate wrongdoing; and consumers in class actions.