Wife of Deceased Mesothelioma Victim Wins Lawsuit

A Superior Court in Bridgeport, Conn. has awarded the wife of a former Navy firefighter almost $2.6 million for her husband’s death from an asbestos-related disease in 2008.

During the two month trial under Judge David Tobin the six-person jury spent less than a day and a half deliberating before awarding the $2,595,000 to Gail Fortier of Port Orange, Fla. from the defendant, Allis-Chalmers Corporation.

Fortier’s husband, David, died last June at the age of 59 from malignant mesothelioma, a fatal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1972 mainly as a fireman on the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier. His service began two years after a deadly fire broke out on the ship. Fortier worked on pumps and other equipment manufactured by Allis-Chalmers that contained asbestos.

Mr. Fortier was diagnosed with mesothelioma in October of 2006 and filed the lawsuit in December of that year. Mesothelioma typically takes between twenty and fifty years for symptoms to appear. Currently, there is no known cure and approximately 3,000 new cases are diagnosed annually in the United States.

This was the first asbestos-related case that received a verdict in Connecticut in 20 years. The lawyers of the defendant say they will be taking an appeal on the case. Allis-Chalmers was one of the largest firms in the world that manufactured farm and other heavy equipment. It now works in the oil field services and is headquarter in Texas.