$7.7 Million Verdict for the Widow of a School Bus Driver Who Got Mesothelioma From Brake Dust in the District Garage, Reduced on Appeal

Lewis Nash drove school buses for the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District outside Syracuse from the late 1950s into the 1990s, and for part of that time he also worked as a district janitor. Every route started and ended at the district's bus garage, where he clocked in, turned in work orders and talked with the mechanics who kept the fleet running. The buses were built by International Harvester, later Navistar, and were sold with asbestos-containing brakes, gaskets and clutches. When the mechanics ground brake linings and blew out brake drums, the dust filled the garage, and Mr. Nash breathed it as a bystander for decades.

In September 2011 he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, the cancer caused by asbestos. He died on September 20, 2012, at 81, at home in Manlius. His widow, Mary Nash, sued Navistar and others in Onondaga County. By the time the case reached trial on December 4, 2014, Navistar was the only defendant left. Levy Konigsberg tried the case for Mrs. Nash. The evidence included testimony from the family and from experts on the release of asbestos fibers from brake work, and on Navistar's knowledge of the hazard. The company argued that its brakes and gaskets could not be shown to have caused the disease and that it owed no duty to warn a bystander.

In late December 2014 the jury found Navistar liable for Mr. Nash's death and returned a verdict of $7.7 million: $3 million for his physical pain and suffering, $3 million for his emotional pain and suffering between the diagnosis and his death, $200,000 to Mrs. Nash for loss of services and society, $1 million in wrongful death damages from the date of death to the verdict and $500,000 for the years he would otherwise have lived. It was reported as the largest asbestos award ever returned in Syracuse. Navistar moved to set aside the verdict and for a new trial, and then appealed.

On November 10, 2017 the Appellate Division rejected Navistar's arguments that the plaintiff's experts should have been excluded, that causation was unproven and that no duty ran to a bystander, and it upheld the liability finding and the $200,000 loss of services award. But it found the damages excessive. The combined $6 million for pain and suffering exceeded what comparable recent awards allowed and was reduced to $3 million, and because the plaintiff had offered no specific values for the services Mr. Nash performed for his household, the $1.5 million in wrongful death damages was cut to $270,000. The award that stood came to $3.47 million, a reduction of $4.3 million.