$39 Million Verdict in First Trial Linking Talc Pleurodesis to Mesothelioma

In 2014, Bryce Zundel underwent a pleurodesis procedure to treat a recurring collapsed lung. During the procedure, physicians instilled a powdered talc product into the pleural space of his chest to prevent fluid and air from reaccumulating. The talc came from Cimbar Performance Minerals, a Georgia-based company that sourced the material from a Chinese mine known to be cross-contaminated with asbestos.

Seven years passed. In 2021, Zundel was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung that is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure. The cancer developed in the same tissue that had been directly treated with the talc, leaving him with roughly ten percent lung function on one side. His wife Diane brought a loss-of-consortium claim alongside his.

Meirowitz and Wasserberg attorney Danny Kraft served as trial counsel alongside a team from The Lanier Law Firm and local counsel Chris Duffy of Duffy Law, trying the case over roughly three weeks in Boston. The team argued that Cimbar misrepresented the safety of its talc product and that the company's own testing methods were inadequate to detect asbestos contamination. Testing of a five-gram sample had confirmed the presence of tremolite and chrysotile asbestos fibers in the product. Experts testified that direct asbestos contact with pleural tissue can accelerate mesothelioma development, closing the causal link between the 2014 procedure and the 2021 diagnosis.

On September 13, 2024, the jury found for the Zundels and awarded $39 million in total damages, including $3 million for Bryce Zundel's past pain and suffering, $21.5 million for future pain and suffering, roughly $1.85 million in combined past and future medical expenses, and more than $12 million to Diane Zundel for loss of consortium. The verdict was reported as the largest asbestos verdict in Massachusetts history.

A judge later reduced the future pain-and-suffering component from $21.5 million to $6 million, finding it greatly disproportionate to the jury's other findings, bringing the final award to approximately $23.6 million. Roughly 100,000 pleurodesis procedures are performed annually in the United States, with talc remaining the most commonly used agent.