Opinion ID: 791997
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Henry Vogt Machine Company

Text: 15 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Henry Vogt Machine Company based on a finding that plaintiffs-appellants had failed to produce evidence that Henry Vogt's products had caused Lindstrom's illness. In Vogt's answers to the interrogatories, Vogt acknowledged that the valves the company manufactured contained encapsulated asbestos packing and the company's gaskets were covered in metal and had chyrsotile asbestos encapsulated between each of the metal windings. Vogt also noted that the gaskets contained latex-filled asbestos manufactured by other suppliers. 16 In Lindstrom's May 3, 2000, deposition, he listed Vogt as one of the companies that manufactured valves aboard the vessels upon which Lindstrom had worked. Lindstrom did not, however, name Vogt as one of the companies that manufactured replacement valve packing containing asbestos to which Lindstrom was exposed on the ships. 17 Lindstrom also presented deposition testimony given by Horace George, with whom Lindstrom had served with on one ship, The Almeria Lykes. George stated in his deposition that Lindstrom commenced work aboard the ship four years after the ship was commissioned. George testified that generally, the shipping company, rather than the valve manufacturer, provided the replacement packing and gasket material. George named five manufacturers who provided packing materials that Lindstrom would have come in contact with during his tenure on the ship, none of which was Henry Vogt. George also testified that asbestos-containing and non-asbestos containing packings were used aboard the ship, but he could not visually distinguish packing containing asbestos from packing that was asbestos-free. George also testified that the packing generally needed to be replaced a couple of times per year. Based on this statement, coupled with the fact that Lindstrom boarded the ship four years after it was initially commissioned, the district court surmised that it would have been impossible for Lindstrom to have handled any original packing or gasket material attributable to Henry Vogt. 18 In his response to Henry Vogt's motion for summary judgment, Lindstrom filed an affidavit in which he stated, I specifically recall numerous valves manufactured and/or supplied by Henry Vogt Machine Co. on board vessels upon which I served throughout my career and I specifically recall replacing the asbestos-containing packing materials and gaskets in working on Henry Vogt Machine Co.'s valves described above, many times throughout my career as a merchant mariner. Additionally, Lindstrom filed an affidavit from George, which stated that he specifically recalled numerous Henry Vogt valves aboard The Almeria Lykes and that he witnessed Lindstrom replacing asbestos-containing packing material and gaskets numerous times on those valves. The district court refused to consider these affidavits based on a finding that it was an inappropriate attempt by Lindstrom to create a factual issue by filing affidavits that contradict the earlier deposition testimony. In their appellate brief, plaintiffs-appellants ignore this ruling by the district court and discuss the information contained in these affidavits as if they are properly before the court. However, because the plaintiffs-appellants have failed to challenge the district court's ruling on the admissibility of these affidavits, they are precluded from relying on them on appeal. 2 19 The district court's conclusion that there was insufficient information presented to survive summary judgment with respect to whether a Henry Vogt product was a substantial factor in Lindstrom's illness was correct, and thus we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in Vogt's favor. Based on the information properly before the district court at the time that the motion for summary judgment was filed, there was insufficient evidence to connect Lindstrom with any Henry Vogt product or to connect a Henry Vogt product with asbestos that caused Lindstrom's illness. Lindstrom almost certainly could not have handled the original packing or gasket material, and this fact compels the conclusion that any asbestos that he may have been exposed to in connection with a Henry Vogt product would be attributable to some other manufacturer. According to Stark, Henry Vogt cannot be held responsible for material attached or connected to its product on a claim of a manufacturing defect. See Stark, 21 Fed.Appx. at 381; cf. Koonce v. Quaker Safety Prods. & Mfg. Co., 798 F.2d 700, 715 (5th Cir.1986) (The component part manufacturer is protected from liability when the defective condition results from the integration of the part into another product and the component part is free from defect.); see also Stark, 21 Fed.Appx. at 378 ([A]n asbestos-containing product, even one with a warning label, is not inherently defective as a matter of law.). 20