Exxon Mobil to Pay $5 Million to Asbestos Widow

June 28, 2006 - A jury in Baton Rouge, Louisiana recently awarded $5 million to a widow whose husband was a contract worker at Exxon Mobil’s plant in the capital city. 

James Terrance died of mesothelioma due to his exposure to asbestos while doing contract work for oil giant Exxon Mobil.  His widow’s attorney maintained that while the company took precautions in order to protect their own workers from asbestos exposure and inhalation, they did not extend the same courtesies to contract workers.

Terrance was employed by Exxon Mobil in the 1960s.  His job involved chipping paint with asbestos from pipes at the facility, said Unglesby, the attorney for Terrance’s widow, Sadie Mae Terrance. It was standard practice for the company to hire contract workers during the 1960s and most were not provided with protective gear when working with asbestos, which can cause a host of lung diseases including asbestosis and mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that often takes decades to surface.

“We’re very gratified,” attorney Lewis Unglesby told a reporter with The Advocate newspaper.  “Exxon knew about all the dangers since the 1930s and protects its own employees from those dangers.”

Attorneys for Exxon Mobil were “surprised and disappointed” by the verdict, noting that they will appeal. 

“While we continue to sympathize with the family, we continue to hold that our facility and practices were not the cause” of James Terrance’s mesothelioma,” said Gary Bezet, one of many Exxon Mobil attorneys that were involved with the case.