On January 6, 2011 an Alameda County jury returned a $13.5 million second phase verdict assessing punitive damages against Pnuemo Abex LLC ($9 million) and Arvin Meritor/Rockwell ($4.5 million). In the first phase of the trial, completed on December 22, the jury awarded $3.9 million in compensatory damages, and found that the defendants, Pneumo Abex, Arvin Meritor and co-defendant Carlisle Corporation (which resolved before Phase 2), acted with malice, fraud and oppression, warranting the second phase determination. (Gordon and Emily Bankhead v. Allied Packing & Supply, Inc., et al, Case No. RG10502243, Alameda County Superior Court )
Gordon Bankhead, worked from 1965 to 1999 in the service and repair of heavy duty vehicles. He spent most of his career at Sea-Land Shipping Company in Oakland, California. He regularly handled asbestos-containing brakes and was present for the inspection, replacement, grinding and blowing out of asbestos-containing brakes. All of these activities caused him to breathe deadly asbestos dust. Abex and Carlisle manufactured the vast majority of the brake linings Mr. Bankhead was exposed to, which in turn Rockwell and Fruehauf attached to brake shoes and axles that were sold to Mr. Bankhead’s employers. Gordon Bankhead was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January 2010.
Kazan Law filed suit on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Bankhead in March 2010. Trial commenced on October 25, 2010. Evidence at trial showed that Pneumo Abex had been aware of the deadly health effects of breathing asbestos dust since at least the 1940s, but that Pneumo Abex did not begin warning its customers of those effects until years after Mr. Bankhead was exposed to the asbestos-containing brakes it made and sold.
Mesothelioma Verdict
The jury found that all defendants defectively designed their brakes, failed to adequately warn consumers and customers of the dangers the brakes posed, were negligent and intentionally concealed information that could have prevented the harm Mr. Bankhead suffered, all of which contributed to causing Mr. Bankhead’s mesothelioma. The jury apportioned 30 percent liability each to Carlisle and Pneumo Abex, 15 percent each to ArvinMeritor and Kelsey-Hayes and 10 percent to Mr. Bankhead’s employers. The jury awarded Mr. Bankhead $1,470,000 for his past and future economic loss and $1,500,000 for his pain and suffering. The jury also awarded his wife Emily Bankhead $1,000,000 for her loss of her husband’s support and companionship.
Mr. and Mrs. Bankhead were represented at trial by Kazan Law partners Joseph Satterley and Justin Bosl, and former partner Leigh Kirmsse.