Australian Resident Wins Asbestos-Related Lawsuit Against Ford

The Ford Motor Company announced last week that they intend to drop their appeal against an $840,000 asbestos compensation battle involving Antonino Lo Presti. Lo Presti learned the news while he was in bed at Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Christmas Eve.

The six-year case first made legal history when Lo Presti was awarded damages for contracting asbestosis after working with Ford between 1970 and 1987.

It was the first successful claim by a mechanic against a car company. It is also believed that Lo Presti was originally exposed to asbestos while servicing brakes that contained the toxic mineral.

In addition to asbestosis, other diseases that can result from exposure to asbestos include lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. The contraction of these diseases can also bring reason for a lawsuit and proper compensation. 

Lo Presti’s wife, Connie, was unsatisfied with Ford’s timing of their abandoning of the appeal on Christmas Eve. She believed they could have prevented Antonino and her family a lot of stress by announcing it earlier in the year.

Connie said, “I hope they come to the party on this and don’t let us stress any more than they already have.” Lo Presti began feeling the effects of his disease as early as the late 1990s and has been in discomfort ever since.

In the ruling, judge Andrew Beech stated that Ford should have been aware about the effects of asbestos exposure and also should have provided Lo Presti with protective gear throughout his work with brake linings.

Robert Vojakovic, who is the Australian Asbestos Diseases Society president, said the entire litigation process took much longer than it should have. Vojakovic had worked with Lo Presti and his family from the beginning of the trials.

According to Vojakovic, “Ford kept delaying, they kept frustrating. That should never happen again.”

For more information on asbestos litigation, visit the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Asbestos Litigation, Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.