In late 2011, plaintiff’s decedent Virginia Schiszler, 68,was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, which is an aggressive, incurable cancer that develops on the lining of the lungs and that often stems from exposure to asbestos. She ultimately died on June 11, 2012, at the age of 69. Her family blamed her illness and resulting death on exposure to asbestos. The decedent’s husband, Gary Schiszler, sued Amcord Inc. and over 25 other defendants. Mr. Schiszler alleged that his wife was exposed to asbestos manufactured and/or distributed by the defendants, making the defendants liable for his wife’s wrongful death. The Schiszlers’ complaint was coordinated with hundreds of other cases that were pending in different counties that shared common questions of fact or law regarding direct and indirect exposure, and involved many of the same defendants. The cases were joined in one court, the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Many of those cases were put on hold while awaiting a decision regarding an appellate case involving indirect exposure. The Schiszlers’ complaint ultimately proceeded to trial against Amcord only, as the claims against all of the other defendants were disposed of by confidential settlements or involuntary dismissals. Mr. Schiszler, who worked as a laborer and general contractor, claimed that he had worked with various construction materials containing asbestos, including Riverside Gun Plastic Cement (which was manufactured by Amcord Inc.), and that asbestos dust from his work with the construction materials got onto his clothing that was laundered by his wife, who would shake off the dusty clothes prior to putting them into the laundry. He claimed that as a result, Ms. Schiszler was exposed to asbestos while laundering his clothes between 1970 and 1979 and that the exposure caused her mesothelioma and subsequent death. Amcord’s counsel contended that Ms. Schiszler’s mesothelioma was not caused by any asbestos exposure that she may have experienced from laundering her husband’s clothes, but instead was caused by 4,400 rads of total nodal radiation treatment that Ms. Schiszler had undergone between 1979 and 1980 for her treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Counsel also disputed that mesothelioma was the cause of Ms. Schiszler’s death, and presented evidence that Ms. Schiszler died from a sudden cardiac event that the defense attributed to the radiation treatments decades earlier. Amcord’s counsel also addressed plaintiffs’ counsel’s primary theory (secondary asbestos exposure) and argued that Ms. Schiszler’s alleged secondary exposure to chrysotile asbestos from Amcord’s gun plastic cement products would not have any substantial effect on her health because it was within the range of background exposures. Amcord’s counsel was successful in obtaining a rarely used adverse inference instruction on spoliation of evidence. The lawsuit was originally filed while Ms. Schiszler was alive. After her death, the plaintiffs’ lawyers conducted a tissue removal of the decedent’s heart, lungs and brain. They preserved portions of the lung tissue, but destroyed, without examination, the heart and brain., Virginia Schiszler was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in late 2011. She later collapsed in the shower on June 10, 2012, and diagnostic tests revealed that her heart had stopped during the incident. She ultimately died the next day. Ms. Schiszler’s death was attributed to complications from pleural mesothelioma. Ms. Schiszler was 69 years old at the time of her death. She was survived by her husband. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award $10 million in special and general compensatory damages. There was disputed testimony as to whether Ms. Schiszler required years of home oxygen use both prior to her mesothelioma diagnosis and afterward (as testified to by her daughter) or merely after the diagnosis (as testified to by her husband).