Lamar University and the Beaumont Foundation of America have announced another honoree for the Southeast Texas Legends Scholarship – this one recognizing the life and accomplishments of trial attorney Ward Stephenson. The $100,000 endowed scholarship will assist underserved students who attend Lamar University , President Simmons said at a ceremony and news conference Thursday, October 2, 2008, in the University Reception Center of the Mary and John Gray Library.

Stephenson was the son of trial lawyer K.W. Stephenson who always encouraged his son to seek the answers to his legal questions in the law library. Following in his father’s footsteps, he built a successful practice in Orange litigating a number of railroad crossing cases and one of the first silicosis cases. Silicosis is an occupational lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust.

“Ward was a superb trial lawyer and I learned quite a bit from him,” said Jack Smith, a former partner in Stephenson’s law firm. “He was very innovative, very creative and wasn’t afraid to try something new. He was ahead of his time.”

In 1966, Stephenson litigated the first asbestos case and is credited with inventing asbestos litigation. Losing that case on appeal, he was undeterred in bringing a second asbestos case for Clarence Borel, an asbestos insulation installer who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lung cancer associated with breathing asbestos dust. Companies are generally shielded from lawsuits by employees because workers’ compensation is the usual remedial course for workers with complaints. However, Stephenson set out to prove fraud and conspiracy by 11 companies who hid the dangers associated with working with asbestos from their employees.

In 1971, the Orange attorney was diagnosed with bone cancer, but was able to plead the Borel case over a four-day period. He won the initial case, but the companies appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision was upheld by the court in 1973 in a written opinion four days after Stephenson died from his cancer. It is said, however, a clerk at the federal court who knew the attorney was ill contacted him prior to the opinion being formally written to inform him of the appeals court decision.

Jeffery White, senior counsel for the American Association of Justice, wrote in a 2000 article for Trial magazine the Borel v. Fireboard case was one of the 10 most significant legal decisions of the millennium. Among the cases on that top-10 list was the Brown v. Board of Education court case which made segregation in U.S. education unconstitutional. The Borel case opened a floodgate of litigation because it allowed employees to sue their employers for product liability.

The Beaumont Foundation of America is a non-profit organization that grew out of the historic $2.1 billion settlement of a nationwide class action suit to obtain relief for those who bought defective computers.

“The foundation is still focused on the underserved, but the mission has broadened beyond technology, and that mission starts with a fundamental reality of our global economy, in which education is essential for a successful life,” said Frank Newton, president and CEO for the foundation.