Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

A San Francisco jury awarded a $20 million verdict to Joan Mahoney, a 69-year-old woman with mesothelioma, and her husband, Daniel. The case was presided over by Judge Thomas Mellon in San Francisco County Superior Court. The judgement finds Georgia Pacific liable for the production of asbestos-containing joint compound used in construction. Mrs. Mahoney handled the material in her part-time work with the family construction business.

According to a report on Business Wire, evidence at trial showed that Georgia Pacific knew that asbestos exposure causes disease, and that its product posed a substantial risk to workers. It sold the asbestos containing joint compound until 1977, after the government banned certain uses of asbestos. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said that exposure to asbestos-containing joint compound for as little as six hours a day, four times a year, could result in thousands of people developing cancer.

Mrs. Mahoney and her husband built and remodeled houses in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Mrs. Mahoney was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, 35 years after her first exposure to Georgia Pacific’s product.

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