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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 536 September Term, 2011

BERNARD DIXON, ETC., ET AL. v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Matricciani, Berger, Eyler, James R. (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Matricciani, J.

Filed: June 29, 2012

On July 1, 2008, Joan Dixon and her husband, Bernard Dixon, brought suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City against corporations involved in the manufacturing and distribution of products containing asbestos, including Ford Motor Company, the Georgia-Pacific Corporation ("GP"), Honeywell International, Inc., and the Union Carbide Corporation ("UCC"). Following Mrs. Dixon's death from pleural mesothelioma, Mr. Dixon pursued her claims as representative of her estate, and the Dixons' four adult daughters joined their father as plaintiffs, who are now appellants. Prior to trial, appellants settled with GP, Honeywell, and UCC, but Ford's crossclaims against those defendants remained for adjudication as potential joint tortfeasors. Ford moved in limine for a hearing to challenge appellants' proffered expert on the issue of causation, as well as to exclude the expert's testimony. Trial commenced on April 15, 2010, and the court denied Ford's motions, along with certain objections Ford raised during the expert's testimony. On April 27, 2010, the jury returned a verdict awarding appellants a total of $15,000,000 in compensatory damages, which the court reduced to $6,065,000 in accordance with the non-economic damages cap of Maryland Code (2006),

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Maryland Law