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A Boston jury returned an $83 million verdict Sept. 18 against an Indianapolis-based pottery clay manufacturing company, with jurors agreeing that a Massachusetts woman’s mesothelioma death was caused by the company’s asbestos-laden products.
The verdict against the American Art Clay Company includes $60 million in punitive damages based on the finding that the company engaged in “malicious, willful, wanton, or reckless conduct” by failing to warn customers about the dangers of their ceramics products, according to Dallas-based Iola, Gross & Forbes-King, one of three law firms representing plaintiffs in the case.
Another $10 million was awarded to Massachusetts resident Judith Lapointe, who died in 2021 weeks after being diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer.
The remaining $13 million was awarded to her husband, Michael, for his loss.
“This lawsuit is about justice for a life unnecessarily cut short because of the choices that this company made to conceal the truth about the dangers of asbestos in its products,” said trial attorney Rachel Gross of Dallas-based Iola, Gross & Forbes-King, who represented the plaintiff in the case, in a news release.
The Indianapolis company was represented by attorneys Robert Boston, Emily Burke, and Vincent DePalo with Boston firm Smith Duggan Cornell and Gollub LLP.
The attorneys and the American Art Clay Company did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
According to the original lawsuit, Judith Lapointe was exposed to asbestos fibers from the 1950s through the 1990s from her mother’s use of the Indianapolis company’s pottery clay, which was used for ceramics.
Attorneys for the plaintiff presented evidence at trial that the company knew, or should have known, the health risks associated with asbestos in their products as early as the 1960s, but that the company ultimately failed to warn customers.
Asbestos exposure is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer that impacts the lungs and internal organs.
The case is Michael A. Lapointe, individually and as personal representative of the Estate of Judith A. Lapointe v American Art Clay Company., No. 2181CV06597.
This lawsuit marks the second multimillion-dollar asbestos-related verdict secured by Iola, Gross & Forbes King, according to the firm. On Aug. 28, the firm won a $12.25 million verdict in a lawsuit against Connecticut-based company Vanderbilt Minerals.
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