The jury in Phase 2 of the Bankhead v. Allied Packing asbestos trial in Oakland on Thursday awarded $13.5M in punitive damages against two defendants, ArvinMeritor and Pneumo Abex, in addition to the jury’s previous compensatory damage award of approximately $4M in Phase 1 of the trial.

In their Phase 2 closing arguments, the plaintiff and defense attorneys disagreed sharply over whether the defendants were financially healthy companies or whether any good would be accomplished by adding punitive damages to the compensatory damages already awarded.

With respect to Pneumo Abex, plaintiff attorney Joe Satterley suggested that $15M would be an appropriate punitive damages award. Pneumo Abex had transferred all its assets for $207M plus an agreement to cover the liabilities, which was the reason why it was no longer operating. It would be unfair to Mr. Bankhead, said Mr. Satterley, to refrain from punishing them because they had transferred their assets in a “shell game.”

“We’re not trying to kill ArvinMeritor,” said Mr. Satterley. “We’re not trying to do what you determined that they did to him. We’re merely trying to set an example of what not to do, and try to give the corporate executives notice of what happened, so they can really acknowledge that what they did was wrong.”

Mr. Satterley suggested that the jury should award $8M against ArvinMeritor, which would be one-third of their CEO’s severence payment if he were fired. “Corporations and individuals are to be treated equally under the law. But they’re different. Gordon Bankhead, his blood is red. But these corporations, the only way to get to them is through their green blood. Corporations bleed green. Now I wish it weren’t the case, I wish it weren’t the only way to get corporations’ attention sometimes is to take their money. To discourage them, to deter,” to make sure the decision-makers focus on the importance of individual safety.

By a 9-3 vote, the jury awarded $4.5M in punitive damages against ArvinMeritor, and $9M in punitive damages against Pneumo Abex. The jury had previously awarded approximately $4M in compensatory damages, for a total damage award in excess of $17M.

CVN webcast Bankhead v. ArvinMeritor and Pneumo Abex live, gavel-to-gavel.

The Bankhead v. Allied Supply asbestos mesothelioma trial returned to session Wednesday to consider awarding punitive damage against Pneumo Abex and ArvinMeritor.

In his opening statement, Joe Satterley of Sales & Satterley reminded the jury that Gordon Bankhead was going to die of mesothelioma, and that the reasonable relationship between the harm to Mr. Bankhead and the behavior of the defendants would guide their consideration of a punitive damages award, and not just an assessment of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the defendant corporations might be worth.

In his opening statement on behalf of Pneumo Abex, John Brydon of Brydon Hugo & Parker told the jury that Pneumo Abex stopped making asbestos brakes in 1987, almost a quarter century ago, and in 1994 stopped making brakes altogether. Today, Pneumo Abex makes no products, and is a non-operating subsidiary that only exists to respond to and satisfy damage claims through indemnification agreements, and as an entity itself has no financial worth.

In his opening statement on behalf of ArvinMeritor, McKenna Long’s John Berfield told the jury that they would hear undisputed evidence that ArvinMerritor has been “weathering a period of financial challenge,” and disagreed with Mr. Satterley’s suggestion that Arvin Merritor had hundreds of millions of dollars to pay an award. Last year, said Mr. Berfield, was the first year in the past five that ArvinMeritor had made a profit.

Forensic economist expert witness Robert Johnson explained to the jury that businesses can lose money for years and still be financially viable, like Boeing, and that even very successful companies sometimes do not pay dividends, like Apple or Google.

Watch CVN’s complete live coverage of the Gordon Bankhead v. Allied Packing mesothelioma trial.

The Gordon Bankhead v. Allied Packing & Supply mesothelioma asbestos trial began today in Oakland, California, before Hon. Judge Robert B. Freedman.

Plaintiff attorney Joe Satterley, of Sales & Satterley, told the jury that Gordon Bankhead was a 67-year old parts worker who contracted mesothelioma as a result of exposure to “a huge dose” of chrysotile asbestos dust when working with heavy duty truck brakes, especially when unpacking the brakes, at the Port of Oakland’s Sea-land Terminal. Mr. Bankhead also occasionally would deliver parts to a ship.

According to Mr. Satterlee, defendants Pneumo Abex, ArvinMeritor, Kelsey-Hayes (Fruehauf), Carlisle, and Rockwell sold a defective product, failed to warn about the dangers of the product, and caused Mr. Bankhead’s mesothelioma.

Mr. Satterley showed the jury secret studies allegedly showing that the defendants knew of but concealed the hazards associated with asbestos exposure. According to Mr. Satterley, the defendants chose not to warn, and they could have delivered non-asbestos-containing brakes, but they did not because the asbestos-free brakes were more expensive.

Defendant Pneumo Abex, represented by John R. Brydon, of Brydon Hugo & Parker, claimed that Pneumo Abex did not cause or contribute to Mr. Bankhead’s illness — “Not a little, not a lot, not at all.” According to Mr. Brydon, Mr. Bankhead was not a mechanic, but a parts man, with an office, with limited exposure to asbestos. However, Mr. Bankhead did board the container ships at the Sealand Terminal, and had exposures to non-brake, non-chrysotile asbestos fibers that Mr. Brydon asserted were more likely to have caused mesothelioma, which Mr. Bankhead had, as opposed to lung cancer and asbestosis, which Mr. Bankhead did not have.  The type of asbestos matters, said Mr. Brydon, and chrysotile fibers do not cause an increased risk of mesothelioma.

Opening statements will continue tomorrow.

Watch CVN’s live webcast of Bankhead v. Allied Packing & Supply.