Widow awarded $55,000 in back payments for husband's death

YOUNGSTOWN -- An 81-year-old widow of a retired U.S. Steel electrician was awarded about $55,000 in workers' compensation back payments for the asbestos-related death of her husband from lung cancer.
A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court jury determined Mary E. Kerchofer qualified for back payments for the death of her husband, John, plus about $13,500 a year in benefits until she dies.
Court testimony showed that Kerchofer died from prolonged exposure to asbestos in pipe insulation and around electrical wiring in the U.S. Steel plant. He died in 1997 at the age of 78.