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Ripa v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.6/5/1995
after thirty months' exposure to Kaylo dust, there was "unmistakable evidence of asbestosis . . . showing that Kaylo on inhalation is capable of producing asbestosis and must be regarded as a potentially-hazardous material."
At first Owens-Illinois was concerned, but it then discounted the initial Saranac results due to the high and continuous degree of exposure the laboratory animals had received. William Hazard, Owens-Illinois' industrial hygienist, however, acknowledged that asbestos-related diseases did not develop quickly and that the Saranac study could be comparable to real-life experience. He testified that it was generally believed in the 1940's that asbestos might present a significant health risk but that the danger was not definitively known. When Owens-Corning took over the manufacture of Kaylo in 1958, the Saranac file that had been kept by Hazard was sent to Owens-Corning. Hazard, however, did not know if all the Saranac documents and correspondence put into evidence in this trial were actually in the file. In any event, this transfer of material was after Ripa's employment at the shipyard had ceased.
Owens-Corning's products during the 1940's were primarily fiberglass, and, therefore, it had campaigned to impress its asbestos workers with the health benefits of using fiberglass instead of asbestos. At that time, it was in the company's interest to have the workers use fiberglass, but the workers had asked for a premium for working with fiberglass because of an "itch factor." After the company's campaign concerning asbestos' danger, the union dropped the request for premiums to work with fiberglass, apparently also as a result of a study of asbestos conducted by their own doctor. At that point, the Owens-Corning campaign stopped. The president of Owens-Corning, however, received a copy of the literature that would have been sent to the union and which described the hazards of asbestos.
During plaintiff's case in the punitive damages phase of the trial, only two former employees of Owens-Corning testified, both through depositions. The public relations director and assistant to the president of the company from 1940 until 1953, Edward Ames, explained that forty-nine percent of Owens-Corning was owned by Owens-Illinois and that Owens-Illinois' and Owens-Corning's headquarters were physically close, only three blocks apart. He looked to Hazard at Owens-Illinois for advice on the health program since there was no comparable hygienist at Owens-Corning, and he received the scholarly literature on the dangers of asbestos from Hazard. While he knew that asbestos was hazardous, he did not remember knowing that Kaylo contained asbestos.
Owens-Corning, however, relied upon the Threshold Limit Values (TLV's) for airborne particles as established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. In the post-World War II years, it was thought that there was a weighted average for a concentration of asbestos dust to which a worker could be exposed with impunity over a lifetime. Until 1968, the TLV for asbestos was five million particles per cubic centimeter, and the Kaylo manufacturing facilities showed dust levels below this amount.
Neither Owens-Illinois nor Owens-Corning, however, ever conducted a study of an end-user's facility prior to decedent's last exposure to Kaylo. In 1968, the methodology switched from measuring dust content to counting asbestos fibers, and the industry set a five fiber level in 1968, which was reduced to two fibers in 1972. Some other studies by a physician and a hygienist concluded that insulating was a safe occupation. These studies and the TLV levels in the Kaylo plants convinced Owens-Illinois that it was unn
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