AMTRAK, others face mass tort asbestos claim filed by suburban, Phila. man

A Bucks County man who worked as a mechanic for AMTRAK in the early 1980s claims in

a civil filing against the railroad giant that the defendant is to blame for an asbestos-related pleural disease diagnosis that the plaintiff received earlier this year.

Croydon resident Thomas J. Toner alleges that the asbestos he was exposed to while working for AMTRAK, officially known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp., during his stint as a mechanic from 1980 to 1985, is in part to blame for the injuries from which he is currently suffering.

Toner claims he suffers from pulmonary impairment and disability causally related to asbestos exposure and asbestos disease with symptoms, including but not limited to, shortness of breach.

On the same day that Toner filed suit against AMTRAK, his attorney, Edward M. Nass, of Howard, Brenner & Nass, filed a separate mass tort action against various manufacturers of asbestos and asbestos related products.

Both civil actions were filed Dec. 7 as short-form complaints in the master asbestos docket at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

The defendants named in the second lawsuit include, but are not limited to, Certain-Teed Corp., DAP Inc., Exxon Mobile Oil Corp., Ford Motor Co., Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Co. Georgia Pacific, John Crane Inc., and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Toner, who is 57 years old, claims in his second suit that he was exposed to asbestos during portions of his service in the U.S. Navy and during his employment for Stockburger Chevrolet, Reedman’s Bristol Tayler and other companies.

An employment history provided in the second complaint shows Toner worked as a boiler tech while in the Navy from 1972 to 1975, as a mechanic for Stockburger from 1976 to 1977, as an expediter and mechanic for Reedman’s from 1977 to 1979, as a mechanic for Bristol Tayler from 1979 to 1980, as a mechanic for the Boca Golf and Tennis Club from 1985 to 1986, as a mechanic for Cherry Steel from 1986 to 1988, and as a mechanic for the Yardley Country Club from 1988 to 1993.

The plaintiff seeks judgment as set forth in the master long form complaint In Re: Asbestos Litigation at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

 

The two case ID numbers are 121200818 and 121200821.