 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
BUTTZ v. OWENS-CORNING FIBERGLAS CORP.12/18/1996
Archie Buttz and Paul Lowe were employed as construction workers prior to their retirement in 1978. They later were found to have asbestos-related diseases, and they filed these suits against the asbestos manufacturers, Owens-Illinois, Inc., Pittsburgh Corning Corporation, and Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. The district court consolidated the cases. The defendants filed motions for summary judgment on the ground that the suits, filed in 1993, were barred by Iowa Code section 614.1(11) (1993). The district court ruled that the suits were not based on defects in "improvements to real property" and therefore were not covered by the statute. The court denied the motions for summary judgment, and the defendants brought this interlocutory appeal. We affirm.
Iowa Code section 614.1(11) provides:
In addition to limitations contained elsewhere in this section, an action arising out of the unsafe or defective condition of an improvement to real property based on tort and implied warranty and for contribution and indemnity, and founded on injury to property, real or personal, or injury to the person or wrongful death, shall not be brought more than fifteen years after [557 NW2d Page 91]
the date on which occurred the act or omission of the defendant alleged in the action to have been the cause of the injury or death. However, this subsection does not bar an action against a person solely in the person's capacity as an owner, occupant, or operator of an improvement to real property.
(Emphasis added.) This statute is described as a statute of repose. Krull v. Thermogas, 522 N.W.2d 607, 611 (Iowa 1994); Bob McKiness Excavating & Grading, Inc. v. Morton Bldgs., Inc., 507 N.W.2d 405, 408 (Iowa 1993).
The disease-causing effect of asbestos is well established in law as well as in medicine. According to the evidence in this case, asbestos becomes a health hazard when it becomes friable and inhaled into the lungs. As a sheet metal worker , Buttz was exposed to asbestos when he installed duct work and boilers. Lowe was a steam fitter and pipe fitter who worked closely with asbestos insulation applications. He was exposed to asbestos during the application process. The asbestos material with which Buttz and Lowe worked was usually in the form of "block," a thick, flat sheet of insulation material or "pipe cover," an asbestos material in preshaped semicircles to be used on pipes. The application process usually involved mixing or cutting, creating asbestos dust that was allegedly inhaled into these workers' lungs.
The defendants concede, for purposes of the motion for summary judgment, that the plaintiffs were exposed to the defendants' products as described by the plaintiffs in their depositions. The plaintiffs, in turn, concede that the steam lines, ducts, boilers, and ovens referred to in their depositions were an integral part of the buildings in which they were located. For summary judgment purposes, the defendants do not dispute the plaintiffs' claim that their exposure was before or during the application process and not after the asbestos material had become attached to the structures.
The specific issue on which this appeal turns is whether the defendants' products, prior to and during their application to the structures, were "improvement to real property" under section 614.1(11). The plaintiffs argue that, because their exposure occurred before the products were applied to the buildings, the asbestos products could not be considered to be improvements to the property. The defendants counter that the asbestos was ultimately applied to the buildings, and "once the construction process begins, Iowa Code section 614.1(11) is tr
Page 1 2 3 Iowa Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|