A Pipefitter's Mesothelioma Verdict Survived the Louisiana Supreme Court Vacating It and Sending It Back Under a New Rule for Reviewing Damages. On the Second Look, It Stood Again.
After trial: Reduced by fault allocation, then affirmed twice and final. The jury's $10,354,620.31 verdict of December 17, 2021 was entered on April 14, 2022 as $693,004.90 of the survival award (one-seventh, which matches a virile-share division among seven solidary tortfeasors, though the opinions do not use that phrase) plus $2,750,000 to each daughter, about $6.19 million against Union Carbide with judicial interest from March 2, 2016. The Fourth Circuit affirmed on February 15, 2023 (No. 2022-CA-0593, 382 So.3d 138); the Louisiana Supreme Court granted the writ and vacated on January 17, 2024 (376 So.3d 837) for reconsideration under Pete v. Boland Marine; the Fourth Circuit affirmed again on June 3, 2024 (409 So.3d 1); and the Supreme Court denied the writ on April 23, 2025 (406 So.3d 1175). The $6,193,004.90 figure is the sum of the judgment's components. Collectability: no source reports payment, so the disclosure stays at not public.
Won by Unglesby Law Firm.
David Stauder Jr., a union pipefitter, was exposed to asbestos at Louisiana industrial plants including Union Carbide's facility in Taft through the 1960s and 1970s. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in his seventies and died within two months, on April 30, 2015. His two daughters tried the case against Union Carbide, the last defendant standing, and in December 2021 a New Orleans jury returned $10,354,620.31 and assigned Union Carbide 20 percent of the fault. The judgment against it came to about $6.19 million, and it survived two rounds in the Fourth Circuit and a Louisiana Supreme Court vacatur before the writ was finally denied in April 2025.
What happened
David Stauder Jr. worked as a union pipefitter for several employers at Louisiana industrial facilities from the 1960s into the 1980s, handling asbestos products throughout. One of those facilities was Union Carbide's plant in Taft. In his seventies he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. He died within two months, on April 30, 2015.
His daughters, Jill and Shelley Stauder, sued in the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish in March 2016, both as his successors on a survival claim and in their own right for wrongful death. There was no widow. By the time of trial in December 2021, before Judge Jennifer M. Medley, Union Carbide was the only defendant left.
On December 17, 2021 the jury found seven companies at fault and assigned Union Carbide 20 percent. It awarded $4,851,034.31 on the survival claim and $2,751,793 in wrongful-death damages to each daughter, $10,354,620.31 in total. The judgment entered April 14, 2022 cast Union Carbide for $693,004.90 of the survival damages, one-seventh of the award, which is how Louisiana's pre-1996 virile-share regime divides a survival award among solidary tortfeasors, plus $2,750,000 to each daughter for wrongful death, with judicial interest running from March 2, 2016.
Union Carbide appealed. The Fourth Circuit affirmed on February 15, 2023. Then the Louisiana Supreme Court decided Pete v. Boland Marine, which requires appellate courts to benchmark general damages against awards in similar cases, and on January 17, 2024 it granted Union Carbide's writ, vacated the affirmance and sent the case back for a second look under the new standard. On June 3, 2024 the Fourth Circuit affirmed again. On April 23, 2025 the Supreme Court denied the writ. The judgment is final.
Calvin C. Fayard Jr. and D. Blayne Honeycutt of Fayard & Honeycutt, Lewis O. Unglesby, Lance C. Unglesby, Jamie F. Gontarek and Adrian M. Simm Jr. of the Unglesby Law Firm, and Lindsey A. Cheek of The Cheek Law Firm represented the Stauders.
Very few Louisiana awards of this size have survived a Supreme Court vacatur and a second review under the Pete standard. This one did.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Louisiana Fourth Circuit, Stauder v. Shell Oil Co., No. 2022-CA-0593, February 15, 2023: David Stauder Jr.'s pipefitting career and asbestos exposure, his diagnosis and death on April 30, 2015, the December 17, 2021 verdict of $4,851,034.31 survival plus $2,751,793 per daughter, the 20 percent fault allocation, the April 14, 2022 judgment casting Union Carbide for $693,004.90 plus $2,750,000 per daughter with interest, the affirmance, and the counsel block naming Fayard & Honeycutt, the Unglesby Law Firm and The Cheek Law Firm for the plaintiffs
- 2.Louisiana Fourth Circuit, June 3, 2024: the second affirmance on remand from the Louisiana Supreme Court under Pete v. Boland Marine
- 3.Justia: the trial court (Civil District Court, Orleans Parish, No. 2016-02190, Division F-14, Judge Jennifer M. Medley) and the 2024 opinion
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