Sheehy, Ware & Pappas, P.C. receives a directed verdict and take-nothing judgment in Dallas County, Texas.

Sheehy, Ware & Pappas, P.C., a Houston-based civil litigation firm, successfully represented a defendant in an asbestos product liability action, receiving a directed verdict and take-nothing judgment after 7 days of trial before Judge Jim Jordan of the 160th Judicial District Court in Dallas County, Texas.

At issue was whether the plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos as a result of his work as a painter caused him to contract mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the pleural lining. The firm’s client and the other companies involved defended the case on a number of grounds, most notably, whether the particular type of asbestos fiber found in joint compound, chrysotile, could cause mesothelioma. Additional issues dealt with dose reconstruction as required by Borg Warner v. Flores, and the existence of any recognized epidemiological studies establishing an increased risk of mesothelioma among a population of individuals whose only exposure was to chrysotile asbestos.

At the end of the plaintiff’s case, the trial court dismissed the firm’s clients and agreed that the plaintiff had not shown exposure to any product containing asbestos fibers. The case proceeded against the remaining defendant manufacturers, eventually resulting in a jury verdict of $10.8 million.

Sheehy, Ware & Pappas, P.C. attorneys George P. Pappas and Michael McTaggart handled the case for the firm.