Can You Pursue a Mesothelioma Claim Against a Company That Has Been Sold and Changed Its Name?

Imagine knowing that a company is responsible for your diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma, but having them attempt to evade a lawsuit by pointing to a sale and name change years earlier. That is what happened to Eric Cislo. Fortunately, a New York court hearing testimony in the case has rejected the company’s arguments and ordered them to stand trial in front of a jury.

Mesothelioma Blamed on Asbestos Carried into Childhood Home

Mr. Cislo filed a personal injury lawsuit against ADSCO Manufacturing Corporation as successor to Farrar and Trefts. Farrar and Trefts was the manufacturer, seller, and installer of Bison boilers, which Mr. Cislo’s father had worked with as a plumber when Mr. Cislo was a child. Those boilers were contaminated with asbestos that was carried into the family home each night on his father’s work clothes.

ADSCO Manufacturing petitioned the court to dismiss the mesothelioma claim against them based on the theory that though they were successors to Farrar and Trefts, the company’s many acquisitions, successions, and name changes had eliminated their legal liability for the wrongs of the original company.

Supreme Court of New York Denies Dismissal of Mesothelioma Claim

Justice Pace of the Supreme Court of the State of New York In Erie County reviewed the applicable law surrounding the mesothelioma claim and denied the company’s motion for summary judgment. They read through the various laws surrounding successor liability to see how they applied to Mr. Cisco’s case, and ultimately determined that the company’s argument was insufficient to dismiss the case and that there were genuine issues of fact that needed to be determined.

One of the most notable points that the judges relied upon in their decision was that ADSCO’s company website promoted the company having been founded in 1877 and that it was “the same company operating today.” They said that this provided significant reason to question the company’s assertion that they were an entirely different entity and not responsible for wrongs from decades earlier. A jury will hear and decide the mesothelioma case.