A jury in Baltimore Circuit Court has found Scapa Dryers, Inc. liable in the asbestos-related mesothelioma and lung cancer of former paper worker Carl Saville. In the 1960s and 1970s, Saville was exposed to asbestos-containing dryer felts produced by Scapa as well as pipe, cement and block insulation installed by insulation contractor Wallace & Gale. The jury awarded $1.718 million to Saville, who has waited for this retrial since the 2003 trial and verdict for the plaintiff was overturned on appeal.
During the mid 1960s and 1970s, he worked on drying machines in a paper plant which utilized Scapa-manufactured dryer felts containing chrysotile asbestos. Wallace & Gale, an insulation contractor to the paper mill where Saville worked, was added as a new defendant in the retrial after its emergence from bankruptcy. In 2002, Saville was diagnosed with lung cancer and a malignant mesothelioma tumor was discovered during the lobectomy. Saville has since gone without cancer recurrence for the past six years.
Mr. Saville is one of the lucky few to have had a case of mesothelioma go into remission. The average survival term for malignant mesothelioma is eighteen months or less after diagnosis. Most plaintiffs in asbestos litigation don’t live long enough to see an appeal completed on the initial verdict.
Scapa Dryers, Inc. manufactured the 200-foot long dryer felts used in Saville’s paper plant. Wallace & Gale is a Baltimore-based manufacturer of sheet metals, fiber sheets and alloy sheets. The company served as an insulation contractor for the installation and repair of several types of asbestos containing insulation at the paper mill where Saville worked.
Another couple that sued Scapa Dryer Fabrics and an additional co-defendant was awarded $10.2 million in November due to workplace exposure in the Crown Zellerbach paper mill in Camus, WA. Henry Barbin worked as a pulp tester, and paper tester at between 1968 and 2001. Exposed to asbestos fibers from dryer fabrics for almost 40 years, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer in 2006.
Henry and Geraldine Barbin’s asbestos lawsuit claimed that the asbestos dryer fabrics were defectively designed and failed to carry warnings about the dangers of asbestos exposure. Henry Barabin was awarded $700,000 for medical expenses, lost income and household services and $8 million in non-economic damages for pain and suffering. Geraldine Barbin was awarded another $1.5 million for her loss of consortium claim.
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