 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. v. Balbos8/29/1990
he reliability of the third party as a conduit of necessary information about the product;
(5) the magnitude of the risk involved; and
(6) the burdens imposed upon the supplier by requiring that he directly warn all users.
Oman, 764 F.2d at 233. In Oman the court concluded that the product was very dangerous because it contained asbestos fibers; the burden on the manufacturer of placing a warning on the product was not great; the employer was unaware of the danger until 1964; and that once the employer became aware of the potential danger it failed to convey its knowledge to its employees. Id. at 233. The court held that under this set of facts it could not say that the district court erred in refusing to give the charge on the sophisticated purchaser defense to the jury. Id.
In this case, we apply the factors to determine whether the appellants failed to exercise reasonable care by relying upon Bethlehem Steel to supply its employees with the necessary information to satisfy the duty to warn.
Since the discovery of the insulating properties of asbestos, asbestos-containing products have fulfilled many important purposes in times of war and peace. In the early 1940's the United States was contemplating and then became involved in World War II. Asbestos-containing insulation was an important component in the construction of military hardware including naval vessels essential to the defense of U.S. security interests. Notwithstanding the purpose served by these products, they were very dangerous. Based on the evidence of the dangers known prior to 1942, and on the holdings in other asbestos cases, asbestos is a very dangerous substance and products containing asbestos are likewise very dangerous if not used properly. See Oman, 764 F.2d at 233; Willis v. Raymark, 905 F.2d 793, 797 (4th Cir. 1990). Even if the dangers were not known in the 1940's, asbestos-containing products were no less dangerous at that time than they are today. Moreover, the magnitude of the risk involved was substantial -- serious illness or death.
The evidence indicates that no warnings were even attempted by any of the appellants until well into the 1970's. The burden imposed on the appellants by requiring that they warn the ultimate users or those endangered by the product's ultimate use would not have been great. A warning could have been effectuated by placing a label on the packaging. As the Court of Appeals observed in Moran v. Faberge, Inc., 273 Md. 538, 543-44, 332 A.2d 11(1975),
when the cost of giving an adequate warning amounts only "to the expense of adding some more printing to a label, . . . this balancing process will almost always weigh in favor of an obligation to warn of latent dangers . . . ." The appellants argue extensively that Bethlehem Steel knew of the dangers posed by the asbestos-containing products in its work place. Yet appellants provide no evidence that at the time of exposure the appellants had reason to believe that Bethlehem Steel would warn its employees. Possession of knowledge by Bethlehem Steel alone is not sufficient to show that appellants reasonably relied on Bethlehem Steel to act as a "conduit" and warn its employees. It was entirely foreseeable that Bethlehem Steel as an employer would not warn its employees. See Van Buskirk v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd., 760 F.2d 481, 496 (3d Cir. 1985). In the case of the installation appellants, there is no evidence that the employees of the installers, when handling these products, took precautions to protect themselves, from which we may conclude that appellants themselves failed to warn their own employees. In addition, there is
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|