Court Verdict For Seaman's Employer In Death Case Involving Asbestos
WILLARD E. BARTEL and DAVID C. PEEBLES, ADMINISTRATORS ofthe ESTATE of ROLF L. LINDSTROM, Plaintiffs, v. JOHN CRANE, INC., Defendant.
CASE NO. 1:98 CV 13222
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8132
May 3, 2004, Filed
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiffs, administrators of the estate of a deceased merchant seaman, sued defendant corporation and asserted claims for negligence under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. ยง 688 et seq., the general admiralty and maritime law, and traditional product liability law. After the seaman's death, the complaint was amended to include wrongful death and survival claims. The parties consented to the case being tried before the court.
OVERVIEW: The seaman claimed that his exposure to the corporation's asbestos-containing products was a substantial factor in causing his peritoneal mesothelioma. After the seaman's death, the administrators were substituted as plaintiffs in the suit against the corporation. The court found that the administrators had not met their burden of proving that the corporation's gaskets or packing was a substantial factor or a proximate cause in the seaman's peritoneal mesothelioma because the seaman was exposed to lots of other asbestos-containing material on board ship during his 30-year career, the corporation's gaskets and packing contained only chrysotile asbestos, and it was generally accepted that it took a far greater exposure to chrysotile fibers than to amphibole fibers to cause mesothelioma, and the chrysotile asbestos in the corporation's packing and gaskets was at least partially encapsulated. Moreover, there was no evidence that the corporation did not take reasonable care in designing or manufacturing its products, and the corporation had no duty to warn, because there was no information available suggesting there was any condition that required a warning.
OUTCOME: The court entered a verdict in favor of the corporation.
