Weitz & Luxenberg's Successful Asbestos Lawsuits Include a Multimillion-Dollar Mesothelioma Verdict

Weitz & Luxenberg success in recent asbestos lawsuits.

In its ongoing effort to hold corporations responsible for recklessly exposing workers to the lethal toxin asbestos, Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. achieved a $16.25 million verdict in an asbestos lawsuit on behalf of Marvin Penn, 71, diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma, and his wife Josephine Penn.

The jury attributed 20 percent of the liability to the sole defendant at trial, Kerr Corp., a dental tape supply company.

The case, which clears a new path to justice in asbestos litigation, is believed to be the first successful asbestos verdict against that type of defendant.

Douglas D. von Oiste, Weitz & Luxenberg trial team attorney and lead counsel said, “The jury believed Mr. Penn and did not believe Kerr’s defense that the product it distributed did not release harmful asbestos dust, and that Kerr could not have known at the time that it was dangerous.”

Marvin Penn was a mail carrier from 1963 to 1999, though, in considering a career change, attended dental technician school in the late 1960s. It was there that he was exposed to asbestos while making castings by carving wax replicas of teeth using asbestos-containing dental tape.

Weitz & Luxenberg is known for spearheading asbestos lawsuits, among others, winning a historic consolidated trial in 1991 involving men who had worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1940s and 1950s.

Weitz & Luxenberg represented 36 clients in that case and secured verdicts of $75 million.

In 1996, Weitz & Luxenberg obtained a $64.65 million award in asbestos lawsuits for four plaintiffs and in 2002, the firm won a $53 million verdict for a brake mechanic suffering from mesothelioma.

The firm has recovered hundreds of millions more for clients in asbestos lawsuits, many of whom formed the backbone of the victorious Allied war effort in World War II.

Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles.

Weitz & Luxenberg represents numerous individuals who have serious injuries related to asbestos. These injuries include mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers.

If you or someone you know has been injured by asbestos, please complete the form on this page for a free asbestos lawsuit review. We will be in touch shortly.