Court ruling:
Family can sue Ford over asbestos death.
A state appeals court in San Francisco has reinstated a lawsuit by a widow and her children against Ford Motor Co. and two other possible sources of lethal asbestos dust at a Coast Guard base where the woman’s late husband worked.
Gene Lepore was a civilian trainer at the base in Port Hueneme ( Ventura County) from 1974 until he retired in 2000. He regularly visited a vehicle repair shop where mechanics worked on brakes that, until protective measures were taken in 1986, emitted clouds of asbestos- filled dust, said Stephen Tigerman, a lawyer for Lepore’s family. Lepore filed the suit in 2009 and died in May 2010 at age 62 of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos fiber in the lungs.
The suit was filed in San Francisco because its courts have a fasttrack program that expedites asbestos cases for the terminally ill, Tigerman said. He said more than a dozen companies have reached settlements with Geraldine Lepore and her children, but four have held out, including Ford, whose trucks and other vehicles had repair work done at the base.
Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson dismissed the suit in 2012, saying Gene Lepore and his supporting witnesses had presented no evidence that Lepore had been nearby when any products made by Ford or the other defendants — Navistar, the parent company of International Harvester; KelseyHayes, which manufactures brakes; and Gibbs International, which makes vehicle replacement parts — emitted asbestos into the air.
But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Monday that the witnesses had offered enough evidence to let a jury decide whether Lepore had been exposed to asbestos dust from Ford, Navistar and KelseyHayes. The court upheld dismissal of the suit against Gibbs.
In Ford’s case, the court said, Lepore and others said he had been at the repair center when mechanics were working on brakes, and that Fords were regularly repaired there. A colleague said he and Lepore often stood nearby while Fords were having their brakes replaced.
That is enough evidence for a jury to “conclude Lepore was exposed to asbestos released from products manufactured or distributed by Ford,” Justice Maria Rivera said in the 3- 0 ruling. She reached similar assessments for Navistar and KelseyHayes, saying the evidence against any of the three was not overwhelming but was enough to submit to a jury.
Tigerman said the family was pleased with the ruling and would look to settle the cases without a trial. Lawyers for the companies could not be reached for comment.