Franklin v. USX Corporation, $6.5 Million

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Franklin v. USX Corporation (2000), $6.5 MILLION JURY VERDICT (represented plaintiff in asbestos cancer case) Alameda County Superior Court 816407-0.  Simona Farrise made United States asbestos litigation history with a verdict of $6,500,000 in an asbestos cancer case that arose after childhood household exposure to asbestos a so-called second-hand asbestos case.

Jeanette Franklin, the plaintiff, was a little girl in the 1940s when both of her parents worked at USX Corporation’s Western Pipe & Steel shipyard in South San Francisco. Her father was a burner (welder) and her mother a ship’s carpenter’s assistant. Her parents unknowingly carried deadly asbestos fibers home on their clothing, and their young children were exposed.  

In March 1999, Jeanette Franklin was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, and on August 25, 1999.  By February 2000, the case was settled with almost all of the defendants except USX Corporation. USX is the successor corporation to Western Pipe & Steel shipyard, and refused to offer even $1. The case was tried to a jury.