Retired Georgia truck driver wins cancer case over decades of toxic gas exposure

The cancer case of a retired Georgia truck driver centers on allegations of decades of exposure to toxic gas from a medical-equipment sterilization plant. He won a $70 million verdict that has survived an appeal.

Gary Walker, the retired truck driver, is not yet assured of the full amount: a new jury could cut the award to $20.25 million.

Here's what to know

The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected a request from Becton, Dickinson and Company, along with predecessor C.R. Bard, to overturn the verdict and retry the entire case, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A limited retrial will instead determine whether Georgia's cap on punitive damages applies.

Walker's award consisted of $50 million in punitive damages and $20 million in compensatory damages. The Gwinnett County jury held the companies liable for creating a public nuisance and for negligence. The companies denied wrongdoing.

The unresolved question is whether the companies acted with specific intent to cause harm. Eleven jurors found that they did, while one disagreed, resulting in a partial mistrial.

Without that finding of intent, Georgia law caps punitive damages in this case at $250,000. The appeals ruling leaves Walker's $20 million compensatory award intact while allowing a new jury to decide the remaining question.

More background

Walker, who was 75 at the time of the trial, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2017, according to the Journal-Constitution.

While working as a truck driver between 1970 and 1999, he transported sterilized medical products from the Covington facility several days a week. He also lived within two miles of the plant from 1991 to 2017.

The facility uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment. Walker alleged that Bard opened the plant in 1967 but did not begin controlling emissions until 1990, despite a 1980 warning from supplier Union Carbide linking exposure to cancer.

His case was the first among hundreds of similar Georgia lawsuits to go before a jury. More than 400 lawsuits concern the Covington plant, which sits less than a mile from downtown near schools, churches, and homes.

Six other residents with cancer also testified at Walker's trial.

What's being done?

The companies plan to pursue further appeals, potentially seeking review by the Georgia Supreme Court.

BD and Bard maintain that their operations comply with state and federal requirements and that they routinely upgraded emissions controls using the best available technology, according to the Journal-Constitution. They also contend that many medical devices cannot viably be sterilized without ethylene oxide.

Their representatives testified that they never intended to harm anyone.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged that ethylene oxide can increase cancer risk. However, the agency temporarily exempted some sterilization facilities in Georgia and other states from tighter air-pollution restrictions, according to the Journal-Constitution.

Walker's attorney, Michael Geoffroy, has called for the Covington facility to close.

"BD has made Gary and his family wait years for this," he said, according to the Journal-Constitution. 

Where can I learn more?

Other residents and workers have also sought to hold companies accountable for toxic exposure. 

• In California, residents sued over toxic gases from a landfill, saying conditions became unbearable.

• New Hampshire towns sued 3M and DuPont, alleging PFAS gear exposed firefighters to cancer risk.

• A judge ruled 3M, DuPont, and Honeywell must face Connecticut firefighters' PFAS claims.

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