Welding Fume Litigation Reference Library
Status of Current Cases
2/14/06 - Press Coverage of GAWDA's Victory in Clendenin Brothers Case
Full Details Available Here.
1/06 - GAWDA Big Victory in the
Clendenin Brothers Case
Click Here to Read the Full Court Opinion
6/05 - Welding Fume Litigation Update
presented by O'Melveny & Myers at the 2005 GAWDA Spring Management Conference in New York City:
6/05 - Welding Fume update by Harburg
12/05 - Welding rods--win for defense in Madison County
6/05 - Update on Insurance Recovery Efforts Presentation
by Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP at 2005 GAWDA Spring Management Conference in New York City:
2/2/05 - GAWDA TO ASSIST IN WELDING FUME INSURANCE LITIGATION - GAWDA has asked a federal court for leave to participate as a "friend of the court" in a case that could determine whether insurers must cover potential liability from welding fume claims. View Press Release. View GAWDA Legal Brief.
8/17 - Defense Counsel Move to Exclude Evidence in Multidistrict Welding Fumes Litigation
Other Useful Web Sites and Links
"Welding Rod Liabilities" (11 MB file - will take several minutes to download) Presented by Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP for the GAWDA 2004 Annual Convention
Welding Fume Liabilities: Strategies to Maximize Your Comapny's Insurance and Other Assets. (4.9 MB file - will take time to download) Presentation at 2004 GAWDA Spring Management Conferences by Katherine Henry and Richard Fields, Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, LLP, Washington, D.C.
Welding Rod Litigation: Unlikely to become the "next asbestos." Goldman Sachs Analyst Comment, March 17, 2004.
Welding Rods: An In-Depth Look Emerging Medicine, Science and Law. Conference in San Francisco, California, June 16, 2004.
How Should Your Company Respond to Welding Rod Claims? Richard W. Fields, Katherine J. Henry, Joel A. Fischman, Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, LLP, Washington, D.C. May 2004. (This article originally appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of Welding & Gases Today.)
GAWDA WELDING ROD LITIGATION UPDATE
This web page is dedicated to bringing GAWDA members the latest information about the status of welding rod litigation and to provide some basic advice on how to protect your company in light of these lawsuits.
The basic claim in all of these cases is that welding rods and wire contain manganese and that fumes emitted during welding can cause symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. Although several thousand welding rod cases have been filed to date in federal and state courts, only 10 cases have gone to trial since 1992. The juries found for the defendants in the first 8 of those cases, but in October 2003 a jury in Madison County, Illinois (a notoriously plaintiff-friendly venue) awarded a $1 million judgment in the Elam case.
In addition, in May 2004 a jury in Pennsylvania awarded a plaintiff $500,000 on a claim that exposure to fumes from welding rods caused lung cancer, but that case claimed injury from asbestos in the welding rods rather than from exposure to manganese.
The main question is whether claims of exposure to manganese in welding fumes is likely to produce the mass jury verdicts for plaintiffs that the asbestos industry has faced in recent years, i.e., whether welding rod litigation will become "the next asbestos." A recent analysis from the investment firm Goldman Sachs concludes that welding rod litigation "is unlikely to become the next asbestos scenario as the medical link is not as clear."
Nevertheless, GAWDA members must realize that litigation costs can devastate a company even if the plaintiffs do not obtain a favorable verdict. There are several areas where GAWDA members should review company policy and approaches:
- Litigation defense. If a distributor is sued in a welding rod case, the best method of defense is to participate in a joint defense group along with similar defendants. Defendants in these groups share costs and strategy and have available medical and legal information from cases around the country. Defendants should not try to "go it alone" when faced with a welding rod claim. GAWDA can provide information on joint defense groups in your area.
- Insurance coverage. Because cases claiming exposure from welding fumes often allege exposure back to the 1960s or earlier, GAWDA members need to accumulate liability insurance policies as far back as possible. If you no longer have copies of your old policies there are companies that can search for them (for a fee). In addition, some insurers are now excluding welding fumes from future coverage, and GAWDA is exploring coverage options for member companies.
- Product warnings. The main claim in all of the welding fume litigation to date is that the industry failed to provide adequate warnings of the dangers posed by inhalation of the fumes generated by welding materials. GAWDA distributor members should not repackage welding rods or wire or to place the distributor's name on the packages.
- Corporate Restructuring. Some larger GAWDA member companies might also consider restructuring their corporations to isolate the risk posed by selling welding rods or wire. A presentation at the 2004 GAWDA Spring Management Conferences by attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP in Washington, D.C. discussed some options.
This web page will be updated as appropriate to provide information on court cases, insurance availability, and product warnings. Please contact me if you have further questions or need additional information.
Rick Schweitzer
GAWDA General Counsel and Government Affairs Consultant
May 2004
Richard P. Schweitzer, PLLC
1776 K Street, NW Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006
phone 202-223-3040
fax 202-223-3041
email rpschweitzer@rpslegal.com
website www.rpslegal.com