Opinion ID: 1670551
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: As to Fibreboard

Text: Asbestos is a mineral product which once was widely used in insulation materials. Over a period of years distressing symptoms appeared in persons who had had substantial exposure to asbestos. Perhaps the most common ailment is asbestosis, which is a nonmalignant scarring of lung tissue. There are also malignant conditions attributable to asbestos exposure, of which mesothelioma is one. Mesothelioma is actuated by asbestos fibers which make their way to the pleural cavity. Asbestos exists in different forms and is used in products in different concentrations and consistencies. The most dangerous is crocidolite, which was not used in Fibreboard's products. Those products, rather, contained asbestos in the chrysotile and amosite (amoebocyte) forms. Plaintiffs' experts testified that all asbestos products are dangerous but agreed that the several forms of asbestos have different properties and that crocidolite is the most dangerous. Charles Hagen testified to having worked with asbestos products of at least nine manufacturers over a period of thirty years. The greater part of his work was with Johns-Manville products; his use of other products is not quantified. Fibreboard argues that the plaintiffs have failed to prove that its products were a substantial causative factor in Mrs. Hagen's illness. The plaintiffs, in order to recover against any defendant, must establish that that defendant's products directly contributed to the death. This requires evidence that the product of each defendant sought to be held liable was a substantial factor in causing the harm. [5] In a case of this kind the plaintiff must establish the causal relationship by expert testimony. Kircher v. Purina Mills, Inc., 775 S.W.2d 115 (Mo. banc 1989); Missouri Farmers Association v. Kempker, 726 S.W.2d 723 (Mo. banc 1987). Of the plaintiffs' expert witnesses only the treating internist, Dr. Dew, expressed a competent opinion as to the relationship between asbestos products and Gloria's death. [6] He testified that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, dust from products containing asbestos directly caused or directly contributed to her cancer and death. He did not identify particular products at this point. He said that the dosage is not particularly significant in causing mesothelioma and that the material circumstance is the fact of exposure. Fibreboard used the brand name Pabco for its asbestos products. As Dr. Dew concluded his direct examination the following exchange occurred: Q And in your opinion, is there a difference regarding their causal effect of mesothelioma from one to the other? A I think there might be some physical difference that most announce that all asbestos can cause problems. As reviewed information, one of the textbooks, Brown's, for all practical purposes all fibers would be viewed the same. I don't think there is good evidence that you can extricate from the type of fibers as to the presentation of the cancer. The problem with it is asbestos is not single standing. Asbestos has many substances, so there's very seldom a pure asbestos anywhere in the products that we have. At no point was Dr. Dew asked about the peculiar properties of the Pabco products Mr. Hagen used. Nor was his opinion sought as to whether these particular products contributed to the death from mesothelioma. On cross-examination he testified as follows: Q In fact, I represent a company called Owens-Illinois, Incorporated, and I also represent Fibreboard. Let me ask you this question. You can't sit here and tell us today that Owens-Illinois' fibers hit the pleura and caused the mesothelioma? A I cannot. Q And I could ask you the same question about Fibreboard, and your answer would be the same? A Right. Thus the record is barren of expert opinion that Fibreboard's product directly contributed to the illness and death. Dr. Dew disavowed a hypothesis of cumulative effect, suggesting instead that Mrs. Hagen probably had a hypersensitivity to asbestos fibres. His concluding testimony on cross-examination is as follows: Q You also mentioned about the asbestos floating around in the air in an urban area. Do you agree that the asbestos floating around in the air here in the St. Louis area as opposed to the asbestos that Mrs. Hagen may have gotten from washing her husband's clothes may have caused this mesothelioma? A Again, I'm not sure which fiber caused this. I think it is possible that asbestos may have played a part. I don't know how you can separate that, under the circumstances. It's there. It's in the air we breathe. We all get it in. So I don't know that the examination is such that you can get down and say this is the one that did it. MR. WELSH: Thanks, Doctor. The redirect continued as follows: Q Doctor, in your opinion what is the most probable and likely cause of her mesothelioma? A I think it's related to the cleaning of the clothes, the shaking is known to be particularly common and leads to inhalation of a good dose at the time you do that. So that when people shake out their clothes, that's probably when she got a reasonably good dose from inhalation. Thus the plaintiffs have failed to establish any more than that the death was caused by exposure to asbestos dust and that Fibreboard's products may have supplied the fatal exposure. This does not establish causation under the standards of our law. The problem differs only in degree and not in kind from the one we considered in Zafft v. Eli Lilly & Co., 676 S.W.2d 241 (Mo. banc 1984), which holds that the element of causation must be established as to each defendant sought to be held. There we declined to follow decisions of other states that seem to have relaxed the traditional causation standards. See Schoening v. Claus, 363 Mo. 119, 249 S.W.2d 361 (1952). The plaintiffs' cited cases do not support a contrary conclusion. The plaintiffs first rely on Elam v. Alcolac, Inc., 765 S.W.2d 42, 173 (Mo.App.1988). There the plaintiffs claimed that they had been harmed by toxic emissions from a chemical plant. The defendants argued that the evidence was not sufficient to show that such damage as occurred was caused by the emissions from the plant, to the exclusion of other causes. The plaintiffs' evidence consisted of analysis of the emissions, comprehensive biochemical tests, and an opinion from a qualified physician that inhalation of the emissions, to a reasonable medical certainty, caused or contributed to the plaintiffs' symptoms. Competent expert testimony singled the defendant out as the responsible party. In Abbott v. Babcock & Wilcox Company, 905 F.2d 201, 203 (8th Cir.1990), the plaintiff's expert was expressly asked whether exposure to the particular defendant's products had been a contributing factor to the lung cancer death of Mr. Abbott, and he responded in the affirmative. To the defendant's suggestion that the witness had not testified in terms of substantial factor the court responded that the jury could have found that the contributing factor was substantial. The record in that case supplied evidence which is absent here. Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corporation, 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir.1973), is the seminal case concerning liability of manufacturers and sellers of asbestos. It contains a valuable exposition of the entire problem. The case was brought on a failure to warn theory. The evidence showed that the plaintiff was exposed to the products of all of the defendants on many occasions....; that the effect of exposure to asbestos dust is cumulative, ...; and that even the most recent exposures could have added to or accelerated Borel's overall condition. Id. at 1094. In Roehling v. National Gypsum Co., 786 F.2d 1225 (4th Cir.1986), the evidence showed that the plaintiff's husband, who had died of mesothelioma, had worked for a substantial period in an area in which asbestos products supplied by the two defendants were used and was exposed to asbestos dust during that time. The medical evidence pinpointed these two products as causative factors. The deceased was a pipefitter, not an asbestos worker, and the evidence focused on his exposure to the defendants' products while installing pipes in which asbestos was used for insulation. The reviewing court held that the showing was sufficient to take the case to the jury, and that the trial court had erred in directing a verdict. In Brisboy v. Fibreboard Corporation, 429 Mich. 540, 418 N.W.2d 650 (1988), there was evidence of a six month exposure to a single defendant's product and also the finding of residual asbestos in lung tissue. The employee had died of lung cancer and the defense sought to establish heavy smoking as the cause. The court held that the evidence supported the finding that asbestos exposure was a contributing cause. The opinion in Migues v. Fibreboard Corporation, 662 F.2d 1182 (5th Cir.1982), does not detail the plaintiff's evidence, but puts much stress on the absence of contradiction of the evidence of causation. The ultimate holding was that the trial court erred in holding that asbestos products were dangerous as a matter of law and in directing a verdict of liability. Thus, a new trial was necessary. We do not find conflict between this case and the others just discussed. We believe that justice requires that the plaintiffs be given the opportunity to supply the deficiencies we find in their proof. We prefer reversal and remand to outright reversal, as we are not convinced that the plaintiff could not make a case on retrial. Kaufmann v. Nagle, 807 S.W.2d 91, 95 (Mo. banc 1991); Moss v. National Super Markets, Inc., 781 S.W.2d 784, 786 (Mo. banc 1989); Morris v. Shell Oil Company, 467 S.W.2d 39 (Mo.1971). Questions about proof of causation when products of numerous manufacturers are involved have not been well developed in our jurisprudence, and there may be a lack of consensus among courts and lawyers. [7] The plaintiffs should have the opportunity to introduce evidence about the causative effects of exposure to dust from the specific products of Fibreboard that Charles Hagen used, over the period of time they were used. Inasmuch as the case must be tried again we consider other points raised on appeal which are likely to recur.