$11 million awarded to victim's estate in mesothelioma lawsuit in Lorain County court

A Lorain County judge and jury have awarded the estate of a deceased Korean War veteran more than $11 million after he contracted mesothelioma while working with packing material containing asbestos at an Elyria factory for 40 years. Jurors found in favor of the late Robert Mitchell, who died at age 83 in 2016, and awarded his estate $6.1 million following a trial. Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery added another $6 million to that award. The jury awarded Mitchell's estate $5 million for wrongful death, $1 million in non-economic damages and $100,000 in economic damages, according to Rothgery's office. The jury also apportioned blame to various defendants: John Crane Inc. was assigned 83 percent of the blame, so the $6.1 million award will be reduced by 17 percent to $5.063 million. Fifteen percent of the blame was assigned to Pfaudler Co., Mitchell's former employer, and 1 percent each to two gasket manufacturers whose products were involved. Jurors also recommended that Rothgery award punitive damages, and the $6 million he awarded will not be reduced, bailiff Rob Bennett said. Mitchell worked in the stockroom at the Pfaudler Co. plant in Elyria for more than 40 years, his attorneys said, and was responsible for shipping specialized glass-coated steel bowls used in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. "The work required spending several hours every week cutting rope packing with a band saw, which threw asbestos particles into the air," the law firm of Simon Greenstone Panatier said in a statement following the verdict. "Despite the packing material's high concentration of blue crocidolite asbestos, Pfaudler was never warned of the potential dangers or advised on proper handling by Crane Packing Co. (now John Crane Inc.), the material's manufacturer." Mitchell was diagnosed with mesothelioma — a tumor caused by inhaling asbestos — in 2016 and died that same year, his attorneys said. He was single with no children and his only surviving relative is his 86-year-old brother, James. In the statement, attorney Holly Peterson called Mitchell "a dedicated, hard-working employee, doing his work as instructed" who "made responsible choices in his life.""Neither he nor his employer were ever told of the hazards of this product, which the manufacturer had advertised as 'completely non-toxic.' To this day, John Crane claims this product was not dangerous. The evidence showed that once Pfaudler discovered on its own the dangers — a full three years before John Crane issued any type of public warning — the company immediately stopped using it," Peterson said. "But that was too late for Mr. Mitchell, who had many years of life stolen from him due to irresponsible decisions made by the manufacturer." "This verdict shows that Bobby Mitchell's life mattered to the people of Ohio more than corporate profits," she said. "It shows that the people will not tolerate a pattern and practice of treating human life as disposable and not worth protecting." Mitchell's estate also was represented by attorneys Frank Wathen and Sean Kerley of Simon Greenstone Panatier and Joshua Grunda of Bevan & Associates. A message seeking comment was left Monday for Ollie Horton of the law firm Hawkins Parnell & Young, one of the attorneys who represented defendant John Crane Inc. in the lawsuit. Attorneys from the Cleveland law firm McMahon DeGulis also represented John Crane Inc. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.