Family of mill worker who died from asbestos exposure awarded $2 million

An Allegheny County jury awarded the family of a Plum man who died from asbestos exposure $2 million.

The jury returned a $50 million verdict last week in favor of the Barry Baumener estate and against 25 companies named as defendants after a two-week trial. All of the companies except one — Oglebay Norton Co. of Ohio and its division, Ferro Engineering — settled out of court, Baumener's attorney, John Kane, said.

Ferro will have to pay $2 million because the jury ordered each of the 25 defendants to pay 4 percent of the total. The 24 companies who settled out of court are immune to the jury's verdict.

Attorneys for Ferro could not be reached for comment.

Baumener was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs, in April and died in October. He was 62, Kane said.

Baumener worked for Carpenter Technology, a steel mill in Reading. He sued several companies in May, including Ferro, alleging that the company sold asbestos-containing products to the mill where he worked.

Baumener and his wife, Marsha, moved from their Reading home into his daughter's Plum home after his diagnosis.

"I think the jury understood the severity of the injury and the devastation on the entire family," Kane said.

Kane declined to say how much the family settled for in the other cases but said it was far less than $50 million.