A Miami-Dade jury awarded a doctor and his family almost $24.2 million after finding that his rare type of cancer was caused by exposure to brake pads made with asbestos. The defendant, Honeywell, previously bought the company, Bendix, that manufactured the brake pads.

What strikes me about this is the arrogance of the Honeywell spokesman, who said the company is ”confident we will ultimately prevail on appeal,” and that “there is no supportable evidence that Mr. Guilder’s disease was caused by exposure to Bendix products.” Uh, clearly there was some evidence. But beyond that is the pure chutzpah of corporate interests these days. “Oh, we’ll win on appeal.” Most maddening is that they often do.