Printing Press Operator’s Mesothelioma Death Spurs Lawsuit
Raymond Desiena died of malignant pleural mesothelioma after decades of working as a printing press operator. Upon learning that some of the equipment he’d worked with between the 1960s and 1980s had been built with asbestos-contaminated parts, he filed claims against the companies that manufactured them, accusing them of negligence in having failed to warn of their health risks.
Printing Press Companies Seek Dismissal from Mesothelioma Claim
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, but Mr. Desiena had no idea that the Airflex friction brakes installed in the L3Harris Technology printing presses he worked with were contaminated with the carcinogen. He also didn’t know that the toxic material contaminated the Heidelberg USA equipment he worked with.
Confronted with the mesothelioma lawsuits, both companies filed motions for summary judgment asking that the claims be dismissed. They supported their requests with affidavits from corporate representatives asserting that their company’s equipment did not contain the toxic material, but Justice Adam Silvera identified significant weaknesses in the statements the representatives submitted.
Weaknesses in Corporate Affidavits Allow Mesothelioma Claim to Move Forward
Though one of the printing press company representatives, George Karosas, asserted that his company’s equipment contained no asbestos and could not have caused Mr. Horvath’s mesothelioma, he also admitted that his knowledge was limited to printing presses in operation decades after Mr. Horvath’s exposure took place. The same was true of Shawn McDougall, who submitted an affidavit on behalf of Heidelberg. Neither man had any knowledge of the equipment or its contents during the twenty years when the victim had worked with it, fifty years earlier.
Based on these shortcomings, as well as the clarity of information that Mr. Desiena had provided about the nature of his work and exposure and details about the way he’d interacted with the equipment, the judge denied the motions to dismiss and allowed the case to proceed.
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