A recent decision in the Baltimore City Circuit Court might open the door for a slew of future asbestos lawsuits.
The court last week awarded more than $3.9 million to the families of three deceased former employees of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point. A jury ruled General Electric liable for crane brakes, used in the plant, that were found to contain asbestos.
Lawyer Michael Edmonds,of Baltimore?s Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl, said his firm has “hundreds” of pending lawsuits involving asbestos exposure at Bethlehem Steel.
“To my knowledge, this is the first verdict to date against General Electric with regard to brakes that were used extensively in overhead cranes in the Bethlehem Steel plant,” Edmonds said.
Asbestos litigation is the longest, most expensive tort in U.S. history, involving more than 6,000 defendants and 600,000 claimants, according to the American Bar Association. Each year, 50,000 to 75,000 new asbestos-related lawsuits are filed, and some analysts have estimated the total cost of asbestos litigation in the United States is more than $250 billion.
“I think the families and certainly we grieve that this is a tragedy that could have been avoided if General Electric had warned about the dangers of its products,” Edmonds said.
The estate of Elihu Alford and his six children were awarded nearly $2 million, the estate of Henry Copland and his widow and son received $1.2 million, and the estate of Dennis Ellison and his widow and two children, $760,000. The families? claims were for the shortening of life and pain and suffering.
GE plans to appeal the decision, company spokesman Gary Sheffer said. “We respectfully disagree with the verdict.”
Bethlehem Steel operated in Sparrows Point until the plant was bought by The International Steel Group in April 2003. ISG then sold the facility to Mittal Steel in 2005.
GE, with headquarters in Fairfield, Conn., employs more than 310,000 people worldwide. The global technology, media and financial services company reported $163 billion in revenues and $20.7 billion in earnings in 2006, according to company data.
Who were they?
The three former Bethlehem Steel employees ? Dennis Ellison, 53, Elihu Alford, 75, and Henry Copland, 82, all of Baltimore ? died of lung cancer after years of service at the plant.
» Alford and Copland died in 2005.
» Ellison died in 2006.
» Copland started working at the plant in the 1960s.
» Alford and Ellison began in the 1970s.
