On November 21, 2024, Union Carbide Corporation won a landmark defense verdict in the first asbestos-related Rhode Island trial in nearly 40 years. A Providence County jury, returned a unanimous decision in favor of Union Carbide and cleared the company of liability after a multi-week trial involving the death of the plaintiff from mesothelioma. ALM Litigation gave a “Shout-out” to the defense team representing Union Carbide, including Willcox Savage asbestos defense attorney, Eric D.Cook.
“Shout-out to a team representing Union Carbide Corp. that secured a defense verdict in what appears to be the first asbestos trial in Rhode Island Superior Court in four decades. The plaintiffs, whose mother died of mesothelioma, were seeking more than $24 million at trial last month. The trial team included Tim McGowan of Kelley Jasons McGowan Spinelli Hanna & Reber, Eric Cook of Willcox & Savage and Monica Nelson of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, with Elliott Davis of Shook, Hardy & Bacon handling legal issues.”
-- Law.com, Litigation Daily, December 6, 2024
About the Litigation
Plaintiffs alleged that the decedent’s illness was caused by exposure to Union Carbide’s asbestos, among other products, and requested nearly $25 million in compensatory damages.
The defense team contended that Union Carbide’s asbestos products were not defectively designed, and that the company did not fail to warn about potential health risks of asbestos. Their defense was bolstered by challenges to the credibility and reliability of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, especially regarding the causation of the mesothelioma and the potential presence of asbestos in the products that the plaintiff’s ex-husband used.
The trial culminated in a complete defense verdict for Union Carbide, with the jury finding no defect in the company's asbestos products and no failure to warn.
About Asbestos Defense and Eric D. Cook
Our Asbestos Defense Litigation Team has a national reputation for defending asbestos product manufacturers in both personal injury and property damage cases. We continue to work for many major national and international corporations that previously manufactured and distributed products containing asbestos and asbestos fiber. We have represented those companies in a multitude of asbestos-related issues, including asbestos medicine, punitive damage, and industrial hygiene matters. We are regional and national counsel for a number of large defendants and have helped them develop and coordinate their national medical defense strategies. The Team also has significant experience in asbestos insurance coverage issues.
Eric D. Cook serves as trial counsel throughout the country for Union Carbide Corporation (a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company), Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon Mobil Corporation, including in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. Eric has won multiple defense verdicts in mesothelioma cases, and several appeals.
Eric has taken and/or defended well over a thousand depositions or examinations for trial purposes. He is also well-versed with ovarian cancer litigation, including expert development, expert trial preparation and depositions.
In addition to depositions and trials, Eric is engaged in an ongoing basis for expert development, expert/scientific motions, and other substantive/dispositive motions practice.