Dallas, TX – A Dallas County jury reached a unanimous verdict on May 16th in favor of the family of mesothelioma victim Louie Scudder awarding $500,000 in total damages. Ben DuBose and Greg Lisemby of DuBose Law Firm and Allen Hossley of Hossley Embry represented the Scudder family at trial.
Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer of the lining of the lung almost always caused by asbestos exposure. The period of time from exposure to diagnosis, known as the latency period, typically takes decades.
Evidence at trial
The evidence established that Mr. Scudder was exposed to asbestos for years while employed at the LaGloria refinery in Tyler, Texas from 1958 to 1998. Mr. Scudder was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2019 and ultimately passed away from that disease in 2022.
Mr. Scudder testified by video deposition that LaGloria never warned him about asbestos hazards, never provided respiratory protection and never conducted air monitoring for asbestos that he recalled until he received a brief training for asbestos abatement in the 1980s.
The jury heard that beginning in the early 1950s, the Walsh-Healey Act set forth asbestos safety practices to be followed by employers such as LaGloria. The state of Texas in 1958 also established a daily limit for asbestos exposure and required employers to monitor the air in the workplace for asbestos dust. Similarly, the OSHA in 1972 promulgated workplace asbestos monitoring requirements nation-wide.
By the 1980s, when LaGloria finally began to abate asbestos at its Tyler facility – it used its own employees, including Mr. Scudder, to perform the abatement. The extent of asbestos at the facility ultimately required professional abatement contractors and took years to complete.
“Despite state and federal asbestos safety regulations dating back to the 1950s, the evidence revealed LaGloria did not adequately protect its employees from asbestos for years,” said attorney Ben DuBose. “LaGloria denied responsibility in this case despite Mr. Scudder working there for essentially his entire career. But we maintained faith in the American jury trial,” DuBose said. “Ultimately, a jury of 12 ordinary Texans has finally held LaGloria responsible.”
Verdict and judgment
Pretrial rulings in the case limited the claims to gross negligence involving wrongful death. The jury found for the Scudder family on all questions including a unanimous jury finding that LaGloria, now known as Tyler MD Holdings LLC, acted with gross negligence.
Final judgment in the case was entered this month by the Honorable Judge Maria Aceves, 192nd Judicial District, Dallas County, Texas.
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