Asbestos Suit Opens In Defiance

A third jury trial over asbestos expo­sure at the Gen­eral Motors plant in Defi­ance opened this week in Defi­ance County Court. Nancy Wilk­er­son, whose hus­band, Char­lie, died from lung can­cer in 2007, is ask­ing the jury to allow her to par­tic­i­pate in the state’s work­ers com­pen­sa­tion pro­gram.
Wilk­er­son claims that her hus­band was exposed to asbestos at the plant while he worked there for years, before retir­ing in 1997. The case alleges that asbestos expo­sure con­tributed to the lung can­cer from which he died. The case has prece­dent… Juries ruled in Feb­ru­ary and April of this year, that Loretta Bryant of Defi­ance and Fayrene Den­nis of McRae, Ark., would be allowed to receive sim­i­lar work­ers com­pen­sa­tion ben­e­fits, and tes­ti­mony was sim­i­lar in both cases. The attor­neys involved are also the same attor­neys. GM also set­tled a sep­a­rate asbestos-related suit this sum­mer filed by another sur­viv­ing spouse, who lives in Ottawa fol­low­ing a sim­i­lar suit that was filed in 2014.