Asbestos Company Points to Lapses in 90-Year-Old’s Memory to Have Mesothelioma Case Dismissed
The passage of time presents one of the biggest challenges for those pursuing a mesothelioma lawsuit. The disease has such a long latency period that several decades may pass between exposure to asbestos and the symptoms appearing, and in that time, memories of specific details can fade. In a recent case, an asbestos company attempted to use a 90-year-old’s lapses in memory to evade having to defend itself against charges of negligence, but the judge hearing the case denied their attempt.
Man Blames Mesothelioma on Second-Hand Exposure to Asbestos from Father’s Job
The mesothelioma lawsuit was filed by Mark Ricci, who had never worked with asbestos throughout his life. He blamed his malignant mesothelioma on asbestos carried into his childhood home on his father’s work clothes. The elder Mr. Ricci, Aldo, had worked with boilers decades earlier, and though he remembered having worked with numerous makes and models, some of the details that the 90-year-old offered during his deposition were contradictory. Boiler manufacturer Cleaver-Brooks based its motion for summary judgment on his inability to recall specifics.
The mesothelioma victim’s father had offered clear testimony regarding his long career as a draftsman engineer and engineer, and had provided a list of the many different manufacturers whose asbestos-contaminated boilers he had worked with. The testimony was in support of his son’s second-hand asbestos exposure claim, which said that the asbestos that his father had carried home on his clothes, skin, and hair had caused his illness.
Judge Cites Rules Regarding Summary Judgment in Mesothelioma Claim
In response to being named a defendant in the mesothelioma lawsuit, Cleaver-Brooks, Inc. noted that Mr. Ricci’s testimony had been unclear on direct examination, and that there were details that he could not remember regarding his personal contact with different equipment. Based on this, they asked for the case against them to be dismissed, but the judge hearing the case denied their request.
The judge noted that in order for a defendant to be dismissed from a mesothelioma lawsuit, they needed to show that there was an absence of facts to support their role in the illness. He said that the 90-year-old’s inability to remember a specific did not qualify as such, and that there were significant details for a jury to weigh. The judg allowed the case to move forward.
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