$18.5M Verdict for Arkansas Brake Shop Worker Who Died of Mesothelioma from Bendix Asbestos Products

Ronald Burlie Thomas spent the better part of the 1970s and 1980s working at brake repair facilities in Little Rock and North Little Rock. The work was routine: pull old brake parts, install new ones. What was not routine was the level of asbestos exposure that came with it. The brake products Thomas handled regularly were made by Bendix, a brand whose asbestos-containing formulations later became the liability of Honeywell International after a corporate acquisition.

Thomas was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining caused almost exclusively by asbestos inhalation. He filed suit in August 2017 in the Eastern District of Arkansas against eleven companies he alleged shared responsibility for his illness. He died in December 2017, at age 72, before the case went to trial. His son, Michael Lyn Thomas, continued the litigation on behalf of the estate.

The trial ran 24 days before Judge Brian S. Miller. The plaintiffs had to prove not only that Thomas was exposed to asbestos from Honeywell's predecessor products, but that those products were a meaningful cause of his disease given other potential exposures on the job. The jury deliberated for less than a day before returning a verdict on January 29, 2019.

The jury found Honeywell 18.75% at fault and Ronald Thomas 5% at fault, with the balance assigned to non-party companies. It awarded $5.55 million for pain and suffering, $1 million for each of Thomas's three children, and $10 million in punitive damages, reaching a total of approximately $18.5 million. Ford Motor Company, also a defendant, was found not responsible.

Before the verdict was read, Honeywell and the Thomas family had already reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount, an agreement struck while the jury was still deliberating. George R. Wise Jr. of The Brad Hendricks Law Firm served as local counsel for the plaintiffs, alongside lead trial attorneys Ben D. Braly and Mark J. Buha of Dean Omar Branham Shirley LLP.