Jury Finds Awards $7 Million In Asbestos Death

Posted by Greg WebbJune 16, 2008 9:12 PM

A jury from Allegheny County in Pennsylvania has awarded $7 million dollars in damages to the family of Alfonse Tripoli who died of mesothelioma, a cancer formed by exposure to asbestos. Tripoli was exposed to the hazardous substance while working as a union contractor in the Koppers, Dravo and Fisher Scientific buildings. All three job sites contained asbestos, but Koppers allegedly failed to warn employees of the dangers. A separate case in 2006 found Koppers officials knew about the dangers of asbestos since 1918 because it was a member of the National Safety Council.

Koppers Co. Inc., which was taken over in 1998 by Beazer plc, was found to be responsible for forty percent of the damages. Dravo Corp., which was acquired by Belgium’s Carmeuse Group, and Fisher Scientific International Inc., a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., were each found to be responsible for ten percent. The remaining half of the damages will be split by a variety of other defendants, mostly companies that manufactured and sold asbestos products. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/mostread/s_568936.html