Family receives largest award ever in New Jersey in an asbestos lawsuit

Hackensack, NJ – A New Jersey family has won what is believed to be the largest monetary award ever in the state over a mesothelioma lawsuit.

The family of Mark Buttitta was awarded $30.3 million on Tuesday from a Bergen County jury as compensation for his death as a result of asbestos exposure during the course of his work. Mark, an advertising executive who died in 2002 at the age of 50, had worked at the General Motors warehouses in New Jersey as a summer job when he was young.

He had handled auto parts containing asbestos, but that wasn’t what was entirely responsible for his illness. Mark’s father had also worked at the same warehouses ever since Mark was a young child, and it was then that Mark had first been exposed to asbestos. His father came home wearing the same work clothes day after day and unknowingly bringing the carcinogenic asbestos fibers home where they became airborne and spread, being inhaled by the Buttitta family.

Mark’s brother also worked at the GM warehouses during the summers so he and Mark had also done the same to their families. The companies that were found guilty and are responsible for paying the $30.3 million award are Asbestos Corp. Ltd., which provided material for GM automobile’s brakes, and BorgWarner Inc., which made the clutches for the cars.

It took the six-person jury about four hours to deliberate and decide on a verdict based on several weeks’ worth of evidence and testimonies provided during the trial.

Mark Buttitta left behind a wife and three daughters. Neither his father nor his brother has been reported of contracting an asbestos-related condition.

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