Couple awarded $7 million in asbestos lawsuit

San Francisco, CA – An asbestos manufacturer has been required by the courts to pay over $7 million in damages to a woman who developed cancer as a result of being exposed to asbestos while doing home-remodeling work with her husband.

A San Francisco Superior Court jury has deemed that Joan Mahoney’s suffering is worth $20 million in compensation. Georgia Pacific Crop, the only defendant in the case, was assigned 30 percent of the responsibility by the jury.

Under the laws of shared liability, the company will be required to pay $7.1 million of the $20 million, which is slightly higher than its percentage of blame. The remaining amount will go unpaid; however, other manufacturers have settled with the couple out of court for undisclosed amounts.

In the late 1960s, she and her husband, Daniel, moved to South Tahoe where they started a part-time remodeling business. One of the products they often used contained an asbestos compound made by Georgia Pacific.

Mrs. Mahoney was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, and doctors told her she had less than nine months to live.

She filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that Georgia Pacific continued to make the asbestos compound even after learning that the substance was hazardous to people’s health. While its competitors found more expensive alternatives to use, Georgia Pacific profited from the product until the government banned it in 1977.

Mrs. Mahoney says she currently cares for her husband, who suffered a stroke last year, even while she’s suffering from the illness.

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