Opinion ID: 1955935
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Samarin

Text: Jack Samarin worked in the Cold Draw Department of B & W's Main Plant from 1964 to 1982. Samarin worked as a sandblaster, crane follower and laborer. Mr. Samarin died in 1984. The present action was brought by his wife Dorothy Samarin against sixteen defendants claiming that they manufactured and/or supplied asbestos products which caused the death of her husband. Twelve of the defendants were granted summary judgment. Mrs. Samarin appeals as to six of those defendants: GAF Corporation, Celotex Corporation (as successor in interest to Philip Carey), Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, A-Best Products Company, Raymark Industries and Eagle-Picher Industries. These companies filed motions for summary judgment claiming that none of their products could be identified as causing harm to Jack Samarin. Appellant responded with affidavits, depositions, and answers to interrogatories to establish the connection between appellees' products and her husband. The affidavit of John Shotton indicated that he worked with Samarin at Cold Draw for all of Samarins' eighteen years. Shotton stated that Samarin was exposed to and breathed asbestos dust from insulated pipecovering on steam lines, cloth hung on furnace doors and bricks used in the five Cold Draw furnaces. Shotton identified Owens-Corning Kaylo as the product used as the pipe insulation but did not know who produced the cloth or bricks. In all three cases he said he knew the products contained asbestos because they could withstand high temperatures and tradesmen referred to the products as asbestos products. As stated supra, these two statements cannot be used to support appellant's assertion that the products were asbestos. Thus, appellant Samarin must provide some other evidence to establish that the Owens-Corning pipecover and any of the other products seen by Shotton contained asbestos. Appellant contends that in her response to interrogatories asking for the names of any person who had information of Jack Samarin's exposure to asbestos products, she included the names of ten people who could identify Owens-Corning Kaylo asbestos containing pipecovering. As discussed supra, however, this list did not provide any information on the relationship of these people to Jack Samarin and whether or not they could place any particular asbestos product in the vicinity of Jack Samarin and show the frequency of his exposure to any particular product. Thus, even if they could testify that the Kaylo product contained asbestos, the answers to the interrogatories contain no information which ties these people to the Cold Draw facility in order to show that the Kaylo product used near and breathed by Jack Samarin contained asbestos. Therefore, it is not possible to establish that Jack Samarin was exposed to Owens-Corning products containing asbestos from the record that appellant has created for this court. [5] As with Owens-Corning, the Eagle-Picher and Raymark products at issue were identified as containing asbestos based upon the observation that they could withstand high temperatures. This is the only evidence, along with the blanket answers to interrogatories, that appellants offer to establish that these products were asbestos. Thus, we must also affirm the summary judgment motion as to these two appellees. Appellant's effort against A-Best is supported by the deposition testimony of James Capots and the affidavit of John Shotton. Capots testified that he was in charge of purchasing certain asbestos containing products from 1966 until the present, i.e. July of 1988 when the deposition was given. He worked in B & W's purchasing department. He purchased asbestos products from 1966 to 1970 or 1971. He indicated that among others, he purchased asbestos products from A-Best. This included the purchase of asbestos cloth. Capots' testimony indicates that he also purchased cloth from the Gage Company and from Gateway Industrial Supply. Shotton's affidavit indicates that Jack Samarin was exposed to a heat resistant cloth product but never names the brand. From these facts we can conclude that Jack Samarin was exposed to cloth and that the cloth he was exposed to may have been supplied by A-Best or some other company. We have no way of telling who supplied the cloth that Jack Samarin was actually exposed too. Thus, appellant cannot establish that Jack Samarin was exposed to any A-Best cloth in the Cold Draw facility based on the evidence in Capots deposition and Shotton's affidavit. Appellant also claims that A-Best supplied asbestos gloves at B & W that were worn by Jack Samarin. A-Best admits in its motion for summary judgment that A-Best sold gloves made of asbestos cloth to B & W. A-Best claims the manufacturer of the gloves was Raymark. Capots deposition indicates that he also purchased gloves for B & W from the now defunct Penn Valley Safeguards. Appellant offers no evidence to establish what brand of gloves appellant actually wore. In any event, appellant offers no evidence to establish that Samarin wore any sort of gloves much less that he wore the specific brand supplied by A-Best. Appellant claims there is a genuine issue of fact as to whether Jack Samarin wore gloves based upon the following answers given in her deposition: [Attorney]: [D]id he ever talk about any special clothing he might have worn for any particular job? [Mrs. Samarin]: No. [Attorney]: Or any kind of special protection he might have had to have besides hat and shoes? [Mrs. Samarin]: No. [Attorney]: When he was a laborer he never talked about putting on anything special for working in a particular place? [Mrs. Samarin]: They always wear helmets and that, you know. We find it impossible to create from these answers any genuine factual dispute that Jack Samarin wore gloves. Even if we would do so, there is still nothing of record to connect him to gloves supplied by A-Best. The mere fact that their gloves were supplied to B & W and present in its enormous facilities cannot be used to establish the fact that Jack Samarin used those gloves or breathed any dust that may have come off of them. Eckenrod v. GAF Corp., supra . We thus affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of A-Best. Appellant's claims against GAF and Celotex are based chiefly on the affidavits of William Betke and John Shotten. Betke was a pipefitter for B & W from 1952 to 1983. From 1963 to 1983, he worked intermittently, off and on as he put it, throughout the Wallace Run Plant of B & W, including but not limited to its Blooming Mill, Soaking Pits, Scarfing Area and Bar Mill subdivisions. During that same period he worked intermittently at the Main Tube Plant of B & W including but not limited to its Hot Mill, Hot Finish, South Mill and Cold Draw subdivisions. During the same period he also worked at the Koppel section of B & W doing work that included Special Metals, Weldings and Fittings, Bar Mill, Blooming Mill, Soaking Pits, Melt Shop and Extruded Shapes. He also worked intermittently at the East Works section of B & W including but not limited to its pipe shop, tube reducing, pickle house and extrusion mill. Betke stated that there were waterlines and steamlines in every one of these areas that were at floor level, parallel to the walls and overhead. His chief job was to install new pipe wherever needed. He observed that this installation caused the pipecovering to come loose and cast dust into the air that he and others in the area were forced to breath. On occasion where he was required to cut and install pipe covering the same result ensued. Likewise, he observed that the daily operation of overhead cranes caused the release of dust from the pipecovering that workers in the area were forced to breath. He stated that two of the manufacturers of the pipecovering were GAF/Ruberoid and Philip Carey (Celotex) and that he knew the material used contained asbestos because it could resist high temperatures and because the boxes containing those two product had the word asbestos printed on them. John Shotton's affidavit stated that he and Jack Samarin were forced to breathe dust from pipecovering due to circumstances similar to those described in the Betke affidavit. However, Shotton states that the pipecovering he and Jack Samarin were forced to breathe dust from was Owens-Corning Kaylo. We first observe that Shotton's affidavit indicates that the only pipecovering used in Cold Draw where he and Jack Samarin worked was Owens-Corning Kaylo. Betke's affidavit simply says that in the numerous areas he worked in, two of the products used were from GAF and Celotex. Thus, we conclude that there is no issue as to Jack Samarin's exposure to any GAF or Celotex pipecovering. Even if we concluded that it was possible to find that Betke's affidavit could be read to say that GAF and Celotex pipecovering were used in Cold Draw, we would still affirm the summary judgment in these parties' favor. First, Betke does not place these particular products in any portion of Cold Draw so that we can conclude that Jack Samarin was near any of the pipes covered with the GAF or Celotex insulation. Second, Betke does not establish with what frequency these two products were placed in Cold Draw. He only states that they were used throughout all of B & W's facilities. As stated above, the mere presence of a product in the facility does not establish that any particular person breathed it. Eckenrod v. GAF, supra . For all of these reasons we affirm the grants of summary judgment to GAF and Celotex.