The Cheek Law Firm Successfully Defends $5.5 Million Verdict for Mesothelioma Victim's Family

The Cheek Law Firm is proud to announce that the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a $2,750,000 wrongful death verdict for each daughter of David Stauder, a pipefitter and mesothelioma victim. Stauder v. Shell Oil Co., 2022-CA-0593 (La. App. 4 Cir. 06/03/2024). This decision marks a significant victory for the Stauder family and a critical affirmation of the jury's original award in a post-Pete landscape.

The Stauder Case

In December 2021, following a multi-day trial in the Civil District Court of Orleans Parish before Judge Jennifer Medley, a jury determined that David Stauder had been exposed to asbestos while working as a pipefitter between the 1960s and 1980s. This exposure led to Mr. Stauder developing and ultimately succumbing to mesothelioma, causing irreparable harm to the Stauder family and cutting short the precious time his daughters had with their father. After hearing wrenching testimony about the remarkable closeness between Mr. Stauder and his daughters, and their devastation after his death, the jury awarded $2,750,000 to each of the children.

Of the six defendants found liable, only Union Carbide Corporation ("UCC") remained in the case. When UCC appealed to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, the court affirmed the jury's verdict. Then, in October 2023, the Louisiana Supreme Court modified the abuse of discretion standard in Pete v. Boland Marine and Manufacturing Co., LLC.. Subsequently, the Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case, instructing the Fourth Circuit to reconsider the Stauder award in light of their decision in Pete. 

The Standard of Review Articulated in Pete

In Pete, the Louisiana Supreme Court sought to define an "objective" standard for quantum review by comparing prior damage awards. Louisiana has a two step process for reviewing general damages: 1) Is the award an abuse of discretion? 2) If so, based on a review of the case law, what is the lowest or highest amount the award can be without being an abuse of discretion? The Pete decision modified this analysis, 

We do not abandon the two-step analysis for the appellate review of a general damage award but modify the analysis as follows. The question of whether the trier of fact abused its discretion in assessing the amount of damages remains the initial inquiry. However, to evaluate this issue, an appellate court is to include a consideration of prior awards in similar cases, as well as the particular facts and circumstances of the case under review. If an abuse of discretion is found, the court is to then also consider those prior awards to determine “the highest or lowest point which is reasonably within that discretion.” 

Thus, Pete requires the appellate courts to compare similarly situated cases in the first step of the analysis, whereas previously, courts only compared cases after the first prong was satisfied. 

Upholding Stauder in light of Pete

In response to the order from the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit noted that “elements of damages for wrongful death include loss of love and affection, loss of services, loss of support, medical expenses, and funeral expenses” and that the determination of damages rested with the jury and was “entitled to great deference.”

As is now required by Pete, Judge Johnson, joined by Judges Love and Atkins, compared the Stauder claims and testimony to other Louisiana wrongful death cases: 

• Glaser v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 22-0534 (La. App. 1 Cir. 8/30/23), 375 So.3d 479, 495: In Glaser, the adult children lost their 89-year-old father following a car accident and two weeks of hospitalization. The Glaser Court reasoned that “[w]hile no one questions the love, affection, and companionship enjoyed by the Glaser family, $1.5 million to each child is unsupportable in light of the fact that these adult children were not members of their father's household or dependent upon him for support.” 
• Williams v. Placid Oil Co., 16-839 (La. App. 3 Cir. 8/2/17), 224 So. 3d 1101: The Third Circuit upheld an award of $750,000 in wrongful death damages to each of the adult children of a woman who died from mesothelioma, where each child testified at trial about the impact of their mother's death.
• Lege v. Union Carbide Corp., 20-0252 (La. App. 4 Cir. 4/1/21), 365 So.3d 617: The Fourth Circuit affirmed $500,000 wrongful death damage jury awards in a mesothelioma case to two adult children who testified at trial but reduced the award to the remaining non-testifying children to $100,000 each.
• Chaisson v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 05-1511 (La. App. 4 Cir. 12/20/06), 947 So.2d 171: The Fourth Circuit upheld a wrongful death award of $562,000 each to two adult daughters of a mesothelioma victim, where the appellant, the sole defendant remaining at trial, was found responsible for 42.58% of the total award.

After reviewing these claims, the court turned its attention to the testimony provided by the mesothelioma victim's daughters, and the jury's wrongful death award. Though the judges noted that the $2.75 million awarded to each daughter was "substantially greater than the range of the aforementioned jurisprudential awards ", the Fourth Circuit did "not find the wrongful death awards under the unique facts presented at trial are beyond what a reasonable trier of fact would award considering the testimony adduced at trial". 

Writing that “jury awards are not arbitrarily decided” and that the district court had not abused its discretion in the original mesothelioma hearing, the court of appeals concluded that there was no need to “inextricably anchor” current awards to past awards. The Court affirmed the $2,750,000 verdict for each of the Stauder daughters. 

Collaborative Effort

The Cheek Law Firm's founding attorney, Lindsey Cheek, litigated this case alongside Lewis Unglesby, Lance Unglesby, Jamie Gontarek, and Adrian Simms of The Unglesby Law Firm, as well as Calvin Fayard and Blayne Honeycutt of Fayard & Honeycutt.