Jury awards $1.7 million in asbestos settlement lawsuit

By John Vettese

December 12, 2003

Jackson, who died Jan. 18 at age 57 when esophageal cancer metastasized to his liver, was an employee of Ambler's Certainteed plant, a manufacturer of asbestos products and the successor to Keasbey and Mattison, according to attorney Steven Barrett. Jackson worked at CertainTeed from 1969 to 1981 and the jury ruled that his illness and death were a direct result of his exposure to the material he worked with; Barrett said his client's job entailed opening 100-pound bags of raw asbestos and dumping their contents into a hopper, thereby inhaling asbestos dust that floated in the air.

The defendant in the case was not the long-defunct CertainTeed, Barrett explained, but rather Bell Asbestos Mines, a Quebec supplier of raw asbestos fiber that worked with the plant.

The suit was originally filed in Philadelphia last year with a group of other plaintiffs suffering from similar conditions, which Barrett explained is the city's policy for handling asbestos cases. But while the other group members settled out of court, Jackson wanted to push forward for his own trial, but died the day before opening arguments were scheduled to begin.

Barrett explained this pushed the case back almost 11 months, as the plaintiff had become Jackson's estate. U.S. District Court Judge James Murray Lynn presided over the eventual trial, which lasted from Nov. 13 to 21, with the jury deliberating for less than 35 minutes. The ultimate verdict was $1.5 million for wrongful death and $210,000 for the survival action. Attorneys for Bell Mines did not return phone calls as of press time.

"There was definitely an extra layer of satisfaction with this case, since Ron passed away before he figuratively and literally had his day in court," Barrett said. "Lots of his friends and family members came out to testify and I felt like some poetic justice was served, like he was there in spirit through [them]..."

..."I made a promise to him," she said. "I told him I would take care of his mother, and I wanted to see it through."

Complete story at:

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