Greathouse

On September 22, 1988, the surviving wife and five children of Henry Greathouse (hereafter plaintiffs) filed a complaint against a lengthy series of defendants, including Amcord, Inc., doing business as Riverside Cement Company (hereafter Riverside), to recover damages for his death from asbestos-related disease. Before or during trial plaintiffs settled for a total sum of $284,000 with 19 of the 20 defendants that were actually served. The case was submitted to the jury only as to the liability of Riverside, the one remaining defendant. In a special verdict, the jury awarded plaintiffs $289,174.10 in economic damages and $100,000 in non-economic damages. On the issue of comparative fault, the jury assigned 2 percent of the fault to Riverside and another 2 percent to the decedent. In a posttrial motion, the trial court granted Riverside a setoff of $56,800 against the verdict to reflect the portion of the pretrial settlement representing payment for economic damages.

The decedent, Henry Greathouse (hereafter Henry), moved to Stockton, California in 1944, a few years after his marriage to Emma Greathouse. In 1947 he began working as an apprentice hod carrier—the term…