Bridgeport jury hands down $20M verdict in asbestos case

BRIDGEPORT – A Superior Court jury has ordered a Norwalk minerals company and a national sealant manufacturer to pay $20 million to the widow of a Rhode Island man who died as a result of asbestos contamination in 2020.

The 6-member jury deliberated less than two hours, after a six-week trial before Judge Barry Stevens, before awarding the verdict, believed to be one of the largest in a civil case in the courthouse’s history, late Thursday.

The jury found Vanderbilt Minerals LLC, of Winfield Street, Norwalk, and DAP Inc of Baltimore, liable for the death of 76year-old John Peckham.

“Mesothelioma is a terrible way to die and the verdict was warranted by the evidence we presented at trial,” said New Haven lawyer Christopher Meisenkothen, who represented Peckham’s widow, Kathleen Peckham. “This verdict was well-deserved.”

Officials at Vanderbilt did not immediately return calls for comment. DAP did not respond to an email.

According to the testimony presented at trial, Peckham had been working for a former Woodstock, Conn., company in the early 1960s when he was assigned to replace the window in the factory building.

Over a four-month period Peckham was required to replace dozens of individual window panes, chiseling out the sealant and glaze between each pane.

The glazing and sealant materials, which were contaminated with asbestos, had been sold by DAP and were made up of materials manufactured by Vanderbilt, the suit claimed.

Meisenkothen said John Peckham was diagnosed in 2020 with mesothelioma in 2020 and died 11 months later.