News

Oct 15, 2024

Newport News jury awards $3.45M in asbestos-related death

NEWPORT NEWS — A jury in Newport News last week awarded $3.45 million to the family of a Chesterfield County man who was exposed to asbestos more than 45 years ago. James Campbell “Jim” Katcham, a

NEWPORT NEWS — A jury in Newport News last week awarded $3.45 million to the family of a Chesterfield County man who was exposed to asbestos more than 45 years ago.

James Campbell “Jim” Katcham, a retired millwright, died in early 2022 of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung. He was 80.

The lawsuit asserted that the cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos-laden industrial parts — made by Illinois manufacturer John Crane Inc. — while Katcham worked at the DuPont Spruance plant in Chesterfield between 1961 and 1979.

The 11-day trial in Newport News Circuit Court was highly contested, with the family’s law firm — the Newport News firm of Patten, Wornom, Hatten and Diamonstein — squaring off against the Boston law firm representing John Crane Inc.

“We both threw and received many a punch,” said the family’s lead attorney, Bobby Hatten. “It was a Battle Royale.”

John Crane’s lead attorney, Christopher Massenburg of MG+M in Boston, did not return a phone call Monday.

The DuPont plant in Chesterfield, Hatten said, produced nylon, Kevlar and other synthetics, using large steam piping systems in the process.

Katcham was one of about 100 millwrights — workers who maintain and repair pumps, valves and other equipment — at the DuPont factory.

And asbestos gaskets and “packing” were used widely inside those pumps and valves to seal them and prevent leaks.

Asbestos, developed in the 1920s, was widely used in an array of industrial, shipboard and commercial applications because of its material strength and heat resistant properties. It was used in insulation of pipes and steam systems, roofing, flooring, as well as inside pumps, valves and car and train parts.

“The word is ubiquitous — asbestos products were ubiquitous,” Hatten said.

But asbestos can break down into tiny particles that become airborne. And Hatten contended John Crane was responsible for Katcham’s death because the company failed to warn him and other workers about the dangers of breathing in the microscopic fibers.

“It was demonstrated throughout the trial that the asbestos fibers from asbestos gaskets and packing had no ‘onion’ properties — in other words, workers could not see the fibers, they could not taste them, they could not smell them, and they had no indication that the fibers were harmful to breathe,” Hatten said following the verdict.

Trial evidence showed, Hatten said, that asbestos-related cancer was “well known to the scientific community since the 1960s,” and that the Illinois Pollution Control Board gave John Crane documents in 1972 that showed that mesothelioma could be triggered by minimal exposure to asbestos.

But John Crane failed to “provide any warnings to its customers” until 1983, Hatten said. The jury found that John Crane breached its duties “by selling unreasonably dangerous products without warning.”

Mesothelioma, Hatten said, can occur 30 to 50 years after exposure.

The case was filed in Newport News Circuit Court on the basis that one of the case’s original defendants, Waco Inc., has operations here.

“The plaintiff picks the forum, and it’s a lot easier for me to go to Newport News,” than driving up to Chesterfield for trial, Hatten said.

(Waco was one of about eight defendants that settled before trial).

Before he died in February 2022, Katcham signed a six-page affidavit describing how he added and removed asbestos-laden pieces from pumps and valves during his career.

“He described making asbestos gaskets with a ball peen hammer and removing asbestos gaskets with scrapers, hand wire brushes, and power wire brushes,” Hatten said, saying Katcham attested that he never knew it was a hazard.

Patricia Katcham, 83 — James’ wife of 56 years — testified at the trial about her loss. Hatten said a man who was enjoying retirement, playing golf and working out five days a week “wasted away to practically nothing,” over the last six months of life.

“They could hardly pick him up without fear of breaking his bones,” Hatten said. “It’s a horrible wasting away of the human body.”

During the trial, an expert for the plaintiffs presented video evidence in which a special light beam was able to show clouds of asbestos dust that were invisible under normal lighting. And Dr. John Maddox, the retired former head of the Riverside Regional Medical Center’s pathology department, testified that Katcham’s exposure to John Crane’s products were enough to cause mesothelioma.

Experts testifying for John Crane — including a former director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — contended that the exposure levels from the gaskets appeared minimal.

But Hatten said that testimony conflicted with “the overwhelming majority of public health authorities and scientists,” including that OSHA advises on its own website that “exposure for only a couple of days is sufficient to cause mesothelioma.”

Hatten asked jurors to award $12 million to Katcham’s family, though he said he was still “pleased” with the jury’s decision. The $3.45 million verdict against John Crane, he said, would be reduced by the dollar amounts of the settlements entered into by the eight other defendants.

The family was represented by Hatten and Hugh McCormick from Patten, Wornom, along with Nate Finch, an attorney from South Carolina. John Crane was represented by Massenburg as well as two Richmond law firms, Reeves & Conn and Gentry Locke.

Hatten said the number of new asbestos cases has been declining for several years in Newport News. Most of the people exposed to it before the 1980s, he said, are now getting older. “It’s aging out,” he said.

Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, [email protected]