Mixed Memory of Asbestos Company Name Ruled Insufficient to Dismiss Mesothelioma Lawsuit
When Collin Bassier was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, he took immediate legal action. He filed suit against all of the companies whose asbestos-contaminated equipment he’d worked with throughout his career as an electrician, including Burnham Boilers. But because his depositions included two different versions of the company’s name, the boiler company attempted to have the case dismissed, but New York judge Justice Adam Silvera of the Supreme Court of New York County denied their petition for request.
Mesothelioma Victim’s Testimony Included Mistaken Version of Asbestos Company’s Name
Mr. Bassier’s mesothelioma was blamed on multiple lifetime exposures to asbestos-contaminated products, including the boilers he worked with between 1981 and 1984 when he worked at his stepfather’s HVAC business. The victim was an immigrant to the United States who was born in Jamaica.
Between his diagnosis with mesothelioma and his death from the disease in October 2021, he gave two different depositions. Though he named Burnham Boilers as the type of residential boilers he had worked on, he also answered an attorney’s question by saying that the boiler company name was Burningham. The asbestos company attempted to use this mistake as reason to have the entire case thrown out.
Judge Gives Multiple Reasons for Denying Boiler Company’s Request for Mesothelioma Claim Dismissal
Justice Adam Silvera frequently rules on mesothelioma cases, and is well aware that defendants seeking summary judgment in these complex cases cannot simply point to problems in the victim’s claim: They are required to prove that their product could not have caused the illness.
Because Burnham Boiler made no effort to meet this burden of proof, he ruled against their petition for summary judgment in the mesothelioma claim and allowed the claim to move forward, saying that it would be up to the jury to resolve whether the discrepancy was reason enough to deny the victim’s claim.
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