[CPEO-MEF] Judge hits Aerojet asbestos denial

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[Missouri]
Judge hits Aerojet asbestos denial
By Chris Bowman -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Friday, November 22, 2002

A judge has sanctioned Rancho Cordova's Aerojet for falsely denying it
ever used cancer-causing asbestos in rockets and missiles it has
manufactured since the early 1950s.

Judge Robert Dierker of the Missouri Circuit Court in St. Louis barred
Aerojet from presenting its key defense in a jury trial over the death
of a 42-year-old woman who died of an asbestos-related cancer.

The jury last Friday awarded a $5.1 million verdict in favor of the
woman's family in Missouri.

The jury was not aware Aerojet had claimed in court papers to have never
used asbestos. But members of the woman's family took offense when
attorneys for Aerojet later conceded they were wrong, said Randall Bono,
an attorney for the family.

"It's absolutely nothing but a bald-faced lie. ... They said they had
nothing to do with asbestos. ... They swore under oath," Bono argued in
a hearing outside the jury.

Attorneys for Aerojet said they were "incorrect" but denied they had
deceived the court. Brian Sweeney, an attorney with Aerojet's parent
corporation, GenCorp, said Thursday the company had trouble finding
documentation and former workers to verify the use of the toxic
substance.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/5318976p-6309661c.html

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