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Bethlehem Steel Succeeds in Defense of Asbestos Suit
Connell Foley LLP client Bethelhem Steel Corporation was victorious in a recent asbestos exposure trial in Baltimore. Lawyers in the firm's Occupational and Environmental Health practice group handled examinations of expert witnesses for Bethlehem Steel. Lawyers from Venable, Baetjer, Howard, & Civiletti, LLP, as well as Walter E. Morrissey of Bethlehem Steel, also participated in the trial of the case.
The case, Mary Wild v. Bethlehem Steel Corporation, was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. The plaintiffs contended that, as early as 1938, Bethlehem Steel had a duty to know about the hazards of asbestos and to warn not only its shipyard workers but also their families who, the plaintiffs alleged, might allegedly become indirectly exposed.
Edwin Wild was a painter at the Sparrows Point Shipyard. The plaintiffs charged that Wild had contracted asbestos-related disease as a result of his working around (though not directly with) asbestos products, and that Mrs. Wild had contracted asbestos-related disease from washing her husband's work clothes.
Bethlehem Steel objected to the submission of the case to the jury, arguing that it was not known at any time during the work life of Mr. Wild that his minimal exposure to asbestos, much less Mrs. Wild's more speculative exposure, could result in disease. The Court permitted the case go to the jury on a theory of negligence after dismissing other counts.
Lawyers in the firm spent several months in Baltimore during the trial of the case, prepared and presented to the jury the expert medical and scientific aspect of the case, and presented expert witnesses on behalf of Bethlehem Steel in the areas of
- Industrial Hygiene;
- Pulmonology/NIOSH B-Reading and Pulmonary Function Testing;
- Computed Tomography Imaging;
- Pulmonary Pathology/Immuno Histochemical Tumor Diagnosis; and
- Electron Microscopy/Lung Content Analysis.
The jury found that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Wild's disease was asbestos-related, vindicating Bethlehem Steel's industrial hygiene program and resulting in a complete defense verdict.
Connell Foley LLP's Occupational and Environmental Health group represents clients facing industrial exposure and related cases around the country. The group currently has such cases pending in New York, Texas, California and other states.
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