| In a case illustrating the potential danger of seeking a | | | | N.Y. Specifically, it was alleged that they ground and |
| new trial following a jury verdict, a New York jury | | | | buffed gaskets and that they didn't know they were |
| awarded three former railroad employees $16 million | | | | working with asbestos products. LIRR only provided |
| for their asbestosis and COPD on April 27. | | | | safety goggles. At trial, LIRR argued that exposure |
| Interestingly, a new trial was previously ordered | | | | to asbestos at the railroad had not caused the |
| following a 1999 award of $800,000, which was held | | | | alleged diseases. |
| to be excessive after LIRR moved for relief. Lincoln | | | | Experts: Plaintiffs relied on the testimony of Victor M. |
| Aquirre was awarded $6 million, cigarette smoker | | | | Marchione, a pulmonologist who testified that the |
| James Harrington was awarded $2.4 million after his | | | | plaintiffs had asbestosis; and Michael Ellenbecker, a |
| 40 percent liability for cigarette smoking and Albito | | | | professor of industrial hygiene at the University of |
| Velez-Zapata was awarded $8 million. We do not yet | | | | Massachusetts in Lowell, Mass. LIRR called Doreen |
| have any information regrding possible appeals. | | | | Addrizzo-Harris, a pulmonary function testing expert |
| Aquirre, Harrington and Velez-Zapata alleged that | | | | who testified that the plaintiffs did not have |
| their diseases were the result of exposure to | | | | asbestosis. Judge Laurence Knipel presiding over the |
| asbestos in the 1970s while working at the LIRR's | | | | trial, which began April 18. Aquirre, Harrington and |
| repair shop in Morris Park, Queens, N.Y., and its | | | | Velez-Zapata v. Long Island Rail Road (NY Sup., Kings |
| current site, Hillside Maintenance Complex in Jamaica, | | | | Co. |