Victim Exposed to Asbestos as a Child While Working With Father

    DALLAS, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dallas law firm of Baron & Budd,
P.C., has announced a jury verdict of $9.3 million for the family of an East
Texas man who died from a cancer caused by his exposure to asbestos fibers as
a child.
    Baron & Budd attorneys Chris Panatier and John Langdoc, along with Dallas
attorney Charla Aldous of Aldous & McDougal represented the family of Timothy
Shawn Bostic.
    Jurors in the case heard how Mr. Bostic was exposed to asbestos while
working with his father as a child and teenager in the 1960s and 1970s.
Witnesses testified that Mr. Bostic frequently used an asbestos-containing
joint compound manufactured by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corp.
    Court documents showed that Georgia-Pacific officials knew about the
health dangers of asbestos as early as 1967.  However, the company continued
to sell products that contained asbestos as late as 1977.
    In 2003, Mr. Bostic was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer
caused by asbestos exposure.  He died at the age of 41 on Sept. 5, 2003,
leaving behind his wife, Susan, and son, Kyle.
    "This verdict showed the Bostic family that their loss could have been
prevented," says Mr. Panatier.  "We are grateful that the jury understood the
responsibility Georgia-Pacific had in causing the asbestos exposure that
eventually took Mr. Bostic's life."
    The effects of asbestos exposure, including the onset of diseases like
mesothelioma and asbestosis, can take years or even decades to surface.  More
than 35 years passed before Mr. Bostic began showing symptoms of mesothelioma.

He died less than a year after his initial diagnosis.
    The jury of three men and three women returned the verdict in Dallas Judge
Sally Montgomery's County Court at Law No. 3 at approximately 6:15 p.m. on
Monday, March 14, 2005.  The three-week trial concluded after approximately
four hours of jury deliberations.
    The jury found Georgia-Pacific negligent for failing to warn Mr. Bostic
about the asbestos dangers in its joint compound, and awarded Mr. Bostic's
family $3.127 million in compensatory damages and $6.2 million in punitive
damages.
    Georgia-Pacific was represented by Mel D. Bailey of Dallas' Bailey / Crowe
& Kugler.
    If you would like more information on today's verdict, please contact
Bruce Vincent at 214.559.4630 or pager 888.361.8452.

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