Vanderbilt Mining Hit with $12.25 Million Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma Cancer Verdict

Record verdict for ‘truly horrific corporate conduct,’ first known liability finding for environmental exposure to asbestos

CANTON, NY – An Upstate New York jury has returned a $12.25 million verdict to the family of a St. Lawrence County woman who died from mesothelioma cancer, finding that Vanderbilt Mining knew for generations about asbestos contamination in its talc mines but failed to protect neighbors from asbestos exposure in the air.

The August 28 verdict, which includes $4.5 million for pain and suffering and $7.75 million in punitive damages, is the largest known jury award in St. Lawrence County. It is believed to be a first-of-its-kind finding in U.S. courts for environmental exposure to asbestos.

The family was represented by Sam Iola of the Dallas asbestos litigation boutique Iola Gross & Forbes-King, and Demetrios Zacharopoulos from New York-based Belluck Law Firm.

Over four weeks of trial, jurors heard testimony that Vanderbilt Mining knew about cancer-causing asbestos in its New York talc mines since 1947 but engaged in a decades-long pattern of denials and misstatements about the dangers to workers, neighbors, and end-users of its products.

Between 1964 and 1984, Anna Bishop lived in Balmat, New York, less than a mile from Vanderbilt mining operations. Ms. Bishop began showing symptoms of mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, in October 2022. She died in January 2023, at the age of 78, after enduring severe medical complications and agonizing treatment to remove fluid from around her lungs.

In closing arguments, Mr. Iola described a “pattern of indifference” by Vanderbilt for the safety of its operations. The St. Lawrence County mines were shuttered in 2008.

“We’re talking about some truly horrific corporate misconduct, reckless indifference to the lives of basically anyone exposed to this product for decades to the present,” Mr. Iola told jurors. “To this day, Vanderbilt has never told the people of St. Lawrence County the truth.”

The case is Linda F. Weaver, as Administratrix of the estate of Anna Bishop v. Vanderbilt Minerals, LLC, Case No. EFCV-22-164221, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of St. Lawrence.

Iola Gross & Forbes-King is a plaintiffs litigation firm focused on representing individuals injured by exposure to talcum-based products and other dangerous products and corporate practices.