DaimlerChrysler to Pay $20 Million in Asbestos Suit

November 29, 2006 - The Associated Press reports that a retired New York City police officer, who worked part-time as a brake repairman, has been awarded a sum of $20 million by a Manhattan jury.  The verdict was made against auto giant DaimlerChrysler, who manufactures both the Chrysler and Mercedes Benz lines.

The newspaper account reports that the state Supreme Court awarded the money to Alfred D'Ulisse, 73, of North Massapequa, New York, plus $5 million to his wife for past and future loss of his companionship.

D’Ulisse, who worked in the Morak Brake Shop in Brooklyn from 1960-1964 and then intermittently throughout his law enforcement career, currently suffers from mesothelioma. His job was to strip worn brakes - which contained asbestos - and replace them with new ones. He had his right lung removed in 2004.

The jury found that the automaker was 10 percent responsible for D’Ulisse’s illness.  Two now-defunct companies were each found to be 35 percent liable for D'Ulisse's cancer. Two other auto manufacturers, found 10 percent liable by the jury, settled with D'Ulisse before trial for undisclosed amounts, said D’Ulisse’s lawyer, Jerry Kristal.

The jury found that DaimlerChrysler “acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others” and according to New York law, that statement makes the automaker liable for the money owed by any non-settling defendant. 

This means DaimlerChrysler owes its 10 percent plus the combined 70 percent of the two defunct companies, which were makers of asbestos compounds, for a total of $20 million of the $25 million verdict, Kristal explained.  DaimlerChrysler will appeal the verdict. 

"Inexplicably, the jury accepted the junk science theories presented by the plaintiffs' lawyers in the D'Ulisse case,'' said a statement issued by the company’s assistant general counsel, Steven Hantler.  "DaimlerChrysler plans to vigorously challenge this verdict and is confident of a reversal.'' 
The statement also said that DaimlerChrysler, on appeal, "will clearly establish that our right to a fair trial and due process of law were systematically undermined by the trial judge's bias and many improper rulings.''