Florida couple files asbestos mass tort in Phila. court

A plaintiff’s attorney from South Jersey has filed an asbestos mass tort claim in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court on behalf of an elderly Florida couple who alleges that the husband’s lung cancer was a direct result of his exposure to asbestos during his working years.

Attorney Dena Young, of the Cherry Hill, N.J. law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, filed the short-form complaint April 20 in the master asbestos litigation at Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court on behalf of Richard and Victoria Holley of Winter Haven, Fla.

There are 17 defendants listed in the complaint. They include, but aren’t limited to, A.O. Smith Water Products Company, Foster Wheeler LLC, General Electric Company, Honeywell International, Owens-Illinois Inc., Warren Pumps LLC and Yarway Corporation.

The lawsuit claims that Richard Holley, who is now 73, was diagnosed as having lung cancer on Sept. 23, 2011, a disease that the plaintiffs blame on Holley’s exposure to asbestos dust and fibers during the time he worked with or around products manufactured and distributed by the defendants.

The lawsuit claims that Richard Holley was exposed to asbestos from 1956 to 1959 while serving in the United States Navy.

He was exposed to the fiber from insulation and equipment in shipyards as well as while serving aboard the USS Irex and USS Orion.

“Such equipment includes asbestos-containing pumps, evaporators, boilers, steam traps, engines, generators, compressors, valves and gaskets,” the lawsuit states.

Holley was also exposed to asbestos through post-Navy work, which included time spent as a plumber from 1971 through 1976, at which time Holley allegedly came into contact with the fiber through insulation, piping, cement, putty, blankets, boilers and hot water heaters, the suit states.

The suit states that Holley smoked about a pack of cigarettes per day from 1958 to 2005.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in accordance with the mass asbestos litigation in state court.

A jury trial has been demanded.

 

The case ID number is 120402523.