Articles Posted in Chemical Exposure Injuries

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On Jan. 9, 2014, a tank at Freedom Industries in Charleston, W.Va., leaked coal-cleaning chemicals into the Elk River about a mile and a half upstream from a water treatment plant. Tap water in the area began to smell like licorice. The water also had a blue-green color. Drinking the water was prohibited for several days. Freedom Industries filed for bankruptcy protection eight days after the spill.

The top executive of the company has been alleged to have lied about his role with the company to protect his personal wealth of nearly $8 million from lawsuits. The FBI is investigating.

Freedom Industries’ president, Gary Southern, repeatedly told investigators he had little to do with the company before it was sold a few weeks prior to the January 2014 chemical spill.

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In a case that involved thousands of toxic tort liability cases, the Illinois Appellate Court has ruled that an industrial manufacturer must turn over documents it alleged were privileged to a company indemnifying it.

In March 1999, automotive systems manufacturer BorgWarner Inc. acquired Kuhlman Corp. and its subsidiaries, including Kuhlman Electric Corp (KEC).

Since the 1950s, KEC has operated a facility in Mississippi that produces electrical transformers. As part of the Kuhlman Corp. sale, KEC represented that there was no soil contamination on its Mississippi property.

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James Folta had stopped working at Ferro Engineering 41 years before he was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. He claimed that while working for Ferro Engineering he was exposed to “tremendous amounts of airborne asbestos fibers.” According to the lawsuit, Folta knew that exposure to asbestos dust was dangerous, but Ferro Engineering did not warn him and did not provide respiratory safety equipment.

By the time Folta received the fatal diagnosis, the statutes of repose had expired for claims under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (the statute is 25 years) and the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (the statute is 3 years after the claimant stopped working for the employer).

As Folta had no other available course of action, he filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County claiming that his mesothelioma was caused by the negligence of Ferro Engineering. Because of the exclusive-remedy provisions found in the Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Diseases statutes, the lawsuit was dismissed. Continue reading

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A BP gas station was having its above-ground storage tank filled with gasoline by a petroleum company and its driver. David Cowles, 61, was the delivery driver for a petroleum company filling the storage tank at the BP gas station when one of the tanks overflowed. The gasoline vapors ignited and a massive explosion erupted. Cowles suffered second and third-degree burns, including severe burns to his arms. He was hospitalized for weeks in a burn unit and required multiple debridement and skin-graft surgical procedures.

Cowles filed a lawsuit against the company that owned the gasoline station, claiming that it had chosen not to use an accurate method for measuring its gasoline inventory. Usually underground gasoline tanks are measured by a long stick inserted in the tank opening to determine the gasoline levels.

During the discovery process of the case, Cowles learned that the gas station calculated its inventory using “net volume” method, which is used in the industry for purchasing gasoline; it is determined by the volume of gas at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Gasoline expands with heat.

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In August 2008, 30-year-old Kevin Harrison was working for Norfolk Southern Railway when he was exposed to acid fumes from a leaking barrel at Norfolk’s rail yard in Hammond, Ind.  The acid had been shipped from Michigan in an inter-modal container owned by the defendant K Line America, which is a subsidiary of a Japanese company.

One day earlier, the driver for the defendant trucking company, Mason Dixon Intermodal, had selected the K Line container from those available at the Mason & Dixon’s Lines Inc. yard in Dearborn, Mich.

The Mason Dixon Intermodal driver inspected the interior of the container and then drove it to the loading dock of Beaver Packaging & Crating, where Beaver employees loaded 40- to 55-gallon polymer drums filled with 30 percent strength acetic acid into the inter-modal container. 

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago reversed a district court decision granting summary judgment where the court found that the expert testimony for the plaintiff was unreliable. Donald Schultz was a painter for American Motors Corp. from 1981 until 1989. Benzene was a substance in the paint that was used.Mr. Schultz died in 2006 from an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) related to benzene exposure. 

The wife of Mr. Schultz, Joann, filed a lawsuit against Akzo Nobel Paints (formerly known as the Glidden Co.), asserting that the benzene in the paint caused Mr. Schultz’s AML and subsequently his death.

Akzo moved for summary judgment using the expert testimony of its expert toxicologist, David Pyatt. Pyatt’s opinion was that the benzene exposure did not cause Mr. Schultz’s AML because only workers exposed to more than 40 parts per million (ppm) years of benzene developed AML.

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