A San Francisco jury has awarded a $20 million damages verdict to a woman who was exposed to asbestos while working with her husband in their home remodeling business.  Mrs. Joan Mahoney was awarded the judgment after suing a number of defendants including Georgia Pacific, the corporation who produced a joint compound that contained asbestos fibers.  The Mahoneys used this compound repeatedly in the course of business, remodeling homes through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports that this is one of the largest asbestos liability awards ever made.

One third of the liability was attributed to Georgia Pacific, who will now be under a court mandate to pay the Mahoneys $7 million under a shared liability formula.  The balance of the award was directed at companies who have already settled with the Mahoneys.  According to Mrs. Maloney’s legal team, the settlement against Georgia Pacific is particularly apt.

Georgia Pacific, so the evidence suggested, knew from the moment it entered the asbestos business that asbestos exposure causes disease. Years before the Mahoneys first used Georgia Pacific’s asbestos-containing joint compound, Georgia Pacific knew that its product posed a substantial risk to workers.

By the decade of the ‘70s many firms had ceased to manufacture asbestos laden compounds and other asbestos products, as the relationship between asbestos fibers and mesothelioma had been firmly established.  According to the Mahoney legal team, Georgia Pacific was the last such manufacturer to cease production of their compound, after it had been the sole remaining such product available on the market.

Mrs. Mahoney filed suit and survived to see the case resolved.  She remains seriously ill and has the responsibility to care for her husband, who suffered an unrelated but debilitating stroke some years ago.