Woodrow McBride of Lynn Haven, Florida, was employed at Smith Power Plant in Southport from 1968 through 1969, then moved to the Crist Power Plant in Pensacola until 1975, after which he went back to Smith until 1996. Both plants are owned by Gulf Power, a subsidiary of utility giant Southern Company.
Somewhere along the way, McBride alleges he was exposed to asbestos during the installation and upkeep of several boilers which were insulated with asbestos-containing materials. He subsequently developed mesothelioma and was diagnosed in September of 2005. He died a year later which is fairly typical of mesothelioma sufferers.
One month before his death, McBride and his wife sued A.W. Chesterton Co. and several other corporations which made the boilers or contributed to their construction. General Electric Corp. and Foster Wheeler are among the defendants.
For A. W. Chesterton, a 122-year-old firm based in Stoneham, Mass., the trial is yet another salvo in a long and potentially lethal war that is beset on the one hand by the ongoing legacy costs of asbestos, particularly as it relates to mesothelioma, and on the other by tort filings which seek damages from a pool of plaintiffs across the board, thus minimizing the real scope of grievances of victims like McBride.
Chesterton, which used asbestos fibers in its industrial fluid sealing products, is a member of the Coalition for Asbestos Reform and fought the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005, which failed to pass in 2006.
Had it passed, the bill would have established an Asbestos Injury Claims Resolution Fund which required companies like Chesterton and its insurers, which had already been sued, to contribute to a pool from which asbestos claims could be paid. Unfortunately, the assessments ($27 million for large firms, but $16 for even small ones) were entirely unbalanced.
For Chesterton, the future looks rocky. For McBride, there is no future.
On April 30th, A Florida jury awarded nearly $1 million to the widow of Woodrow McBride who died as a result of mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos.
