Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford represents the family of a former brake mechanic admitted to the hospital in the fall of 2004 after complaining of shortness of breath. Within a few short weeks of our first meeting with the client, the lawyers at Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford brought suit against the manufacturers of the asbestos-containing brakes and friction products with which he worked.

A settlement was reached in his mesothelioma case just weeks before he died of his disease at the age of 63.

Our client had a small brake shop located behind his home where he ground and drilled brakes for over 30 years. He identified six different companies responsible for manufacturing the materials with which he worked.

The defendant companies tried to convince the trial court that the asbestos used in their brakes did not have the potential to cause mesothelioma, a rare cancer in most cases caused only by the inhalation or ingestion of asbestos dust. In order to demonstrate the extent of our client’s asbestos contamination, we arranged for an expert to sample the dust near the bench grinder which our client used to grind brakes. The dust was heavily contaminated with asbestos. The trial court rejected the defendants’ argument that the asbestos in their products did not cause the mesothelioma in this case and allowed the case to proceed to trial before a jury.

After two days of trial, the case settled for approximately $1.5 million.  Our client lived long enough to know that his family would be provided for.