Lawyers with Dallas-based Dean Omar Branham Shirley secured a $34.2 million jury award Friday for a former shipyard worker who developed mesothelioma after years of working with asbestos-containing gaskets and packing sold by John Crane.
Richard Long, 71, worked at a ship repair yard on Swan Island, north of Portland, Oregon, from 1972 to 1985, assisting machinists and tradesmen in the engine rooms of commercial vessels. He regularly worked with John Crane’s asbestos gaskets and packing, which he alleged exposed him to the deadly fibers.
DOBS attorney Mark Linder said in a news release that jurors heard from a corporate representative of John Crane who contended the company’s asbestos products were safe.
“The jury’s verdict reinforces the fundamental principle that companies must warn of their product’s hazards,” he said.
At trial, Linder and fellow DOBS lawyer Lenny Sandoval told the jury John Crane should have known of the dangers of asbestos exposure as early as the 1930s — and had actual knowledge of the deadly nature of its products by the early 1970s — but never did any meaningful testing. Evidence presented at trial included internal company documents and material safety data sheets acknowledging the cancer risk posed by asbestos in its products that it never shared with end users like Long.
The case was first tried in June and ended in a mistrial after four days of jury deliberation.
“It allowed us to try to shore up what we thought might have been our weak spots after the first trial and hit a few things from a different perspective,” Linder told The Texas Lawbook in discussing the retrial.
Long was diagnosed in 2023 with biphasic pleural mesothelioma, an incurable cancer. After a day of deliberations, the jury awarded Long $34.2 million.
“What we suggested was $40 million was a fair value, given everything that Mr. Long had gone through and his pain and suffering. He’s still living, and he knows that he is not going to make it out of this diagnosis and that it’s fatal,” Linder said.
Linder explained that John Crane argued that their asbestos did not cause the fatal cancer.
“Rick was enjoying his retirement as the ultimate outdoorsman with his partner Peggy,” Sandoval said in a news release. “John Crane’s corporate decisions deprived him of that life. This verdict recognizes the severity of Mr. Long’s pain, suffering, and loss. We are grateful to the jury for its careful consideration.”
Devin Robinson of the law offices of Devin Robinson also represented Long.
Attorneys for John Crane — Griffin Purnell partner Dan Griffin, Gierke Frank founding partner Nora Gierke and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough partner Kate Skagerberg — did not immediately respond to request for comment.
DOBS also saw an $8 million jury verdict in Boston this past June against Johnson & Johnson for its talcum powder. In May, the firm received a $3 million verdict in Louisiana.
The case is Richard D. Long v. 3M Company et al., 23CV27457, in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah.