Jury awards $30 million in tire plant asbestos lawsuit

CHICAGO—The widow of a man who died from mesothelioma related to the asbestos exposure of his father was awarded $30 million dollars.

On Dec. 22, a Cook County jury ruled in a case where the deceased's only exposure to asbestos was through his father's employment decades earlier at a Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. manufacturing facility in Decatur, Ill.

Thomas Jackson, 64, died five weeks after his diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane that lines the body's abdominal organs and is commonly linked to asbestos exposure.

The now-closed Firestone tire facility used talc that contained raw asbestos to keep tires and rubber components from sticking together. Jackson's father Jim, a manager at the plant, inadvertently carried home the talc on his clothing for years starting in 1965, attorneys on behalf of Jackson's wife Dorothy said.

"For years, this Firestone facility allowed hardworking men to go home to their families covered in raw asbestos materials, endangering the next generation and, in Mr. Jackson's case, causing a sudden and painful death," attorney Benjamin Braly said.

During the nine-day trial, attorneys produced around 100 pieces of documentary evidence that tied Jackson's asbestos exposure to his father's work at the plant. Jurors awarded $5.25 million in economic losses, $11.14 million in wrongful death damages and $13.6 million in survivor damages.

The case (1919L009793) was filed Sept. 5, 2019—Dorothy J. Jackson, Independent Administrator of the Estate of Thomas J. Jackson, Deceased vs. A.W. Chesterton Company et al.—in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill.

The defendants included Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, L.L.C., Bridgestone Americas, Inc. and Firestone Industrial Products Co., L.L.C., along with nearly 40 others related to the plant's production.

Bridgestone, who acquired Firestone in 1988, closed the Decatur plant in 2001 after 38 years of operation.

"We are saddened by the loss this family has faced. At Bridgestone, nothing is more important to us than the well-being of our employees and their families," Bridgestone said in a statement to Tire Business.

"We are disappointed by the jury's verdict, which we do not believe is supported by the facts or Illinois law, and we are considering our options, including an appeal," the company said.