Opinion ID: 1473494
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Evidence of Causation in This Case

Text: There is no doubt that appellants have formidable evidentiary problems in trying to connect these particular appellees to the asbestos products which may have caused their injuries. We conclude, on the record before us, that the judgments against appellants Claytor and Keelan must be affirmed. The evidence presented by these two claimants is merely colorable, [and] is not significantly probative, Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., supra, 477 U.S. at 249-250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (citations omitted), and thus summary judgment was properly entered against them. Turner's position is somewhat stronger, at least as to one manufacturer. Although we affirm the judgment against him on his claim against GAF, we find in the record sufficient evidence to raise a jury issue as to whether products manufactured by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation were a substantial causative factor in his injuries. We emphasize that we are not requiring appellants to present direct evidence of their exposure to specific asbestos products, or testimony from others who could verify appellants' presence during the use of specific asbestos products, because we agree that [s]uch burden is unreasonable. Roehling v. National Gypsum Co. Gold Bond Bldg. Products, 786 F.2d 1225, 1228 (4th Cir.1986). Appellants may prove their case, specifically the element of causation, by circumstantial evidence, deriving the benefits of all reasonable inferences. It is the duty of the court, however, to withdraw the case from the jury when the necessary inference is so tenuous that it rests merely upon speculation and conjecture. Ford Motor Co. v. McDavid, 259 F.2d 261, 266 (4th Cir.1958), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 908, 79 S.Ct. 234, 3 L.Ed.2d 229 (1958), quoted with approval in Lohrmann, supra, 782 F.2d at 1163. Appellants Claytor and Keelan attempt to raise genuine issues of material fact by offering statements from persons who identify certain asbestos products that were present in the general vicinity where Claytor and Keelan, at some time, may also have been present. That is not enough. A mere showing that appellants worked at jobsites where appellees' asbestos products were used at some point will not give rise to an inference, sufficient to defeat summary judgment, that appellants themselves may have been exposed to those products. See, e.g., Blackston v. Shook & Fletcher Insulation Co., 764 F.2d 1480, 1481 (11th Cir.1985); Eagle-Picher, supra, 326 Md. at 214-217, 604 A.2d at 462-463. What is minimally required, and what Claytor and Keelan failed to present, is proof that appellants and the defendants' products were in the same place at the same time. [11] Claytor testified that he worked on automobiles at Acme Welding between 1938 and 1942 using wet asbestos, but there was no evidence of who manufactured this asbestos. The same failure to identify a manufacturer characterizes virtually all of Claytor's testimony; there is no evidence identifying any asbestos product used or encountered at any jobsite where he worked, except for one reference to the manufacturer of the asbestos-covered pipe used at Fort Belvoir. Significantly, this testimony identified only the maker of the pipe itself (Rick-Weld), not the maker of the asbestos product from which the pipe covering was made. Moreover, Claytor referred only to entire decades during which, at some point, he worked at a jobsite where asbestos products might have been present; for example, he said that he worked at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in the '60's ... at two or three different times. He also testified that he was exposed to asbestos at Catholic University because all the buildings had asbestos in them, but he did not say when or how long he worked at Catholic University  and of course he did not identify any of the asbestos products that were in all the buildings. The depositions of Charles Mankin and Robert Stransky add nothing to Claytor's case. Mankin, who worked on the Catholic University Theater, was far from positive that asbestos products were being used while he was there. Although he did recall the name Owens-Corning associated with some products with which he worked at Catholic University, he never said when he was there, not even in the vaguest terms. Stransky's testimony was similarly unhelpful. He was an insulator who worked at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in 1957 and 1958 and recalled seeing boxes there labeled Owens-Illinois Kaylo. Claytor, however, testified that he worked at Saint Elizabeths two or three times during the 1960's, significantly later than the time when Stransky saw those boxes. Even viewing the record in the light most favorable to Claytor, we cannot find any evidence which would permit a jury to draw a reasonable inference that asbestos products manufactured by any of the appellees had a causative role in his injuries. Keelan's evidence is no better than Claytor's. Keelan offered testimony that he was present at numerous jobsites where he believed asbestos products were used. Fatal to his cause, however, is his failure to specify the dates when he was present at any of these sites when asbestos made by any appellee was in use. Robert Stransky's deposition testimony is of no help to Keelan either. Stransky, an insulator who used asbestos, stated that he worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in 1970 and 1971. He remembered working in three different buildings there (although he did not know which ones they were), and he also recalled seeing boxes with Owens-Corning and GAF written on the side. However, Stransky did not remember what other types of workers ( e.g., electricians) were on these jobs. Keelan's only connection with the Goddard Space Flight Center was his statement that he worked there as an electrician in the 1960's and 1970's. This was not enough to prove that Keelan worked anywhere near Stransky, and certainly not enough to put Keelan in the vicinity of any Owens-Corning or GAF products. Faced with this meager proof, any reasonable juror would have to take a huge  and impermissible  speculative leap to find that Owens-Corning and GAF products had any causal connection with Keelan's injuries. Keelan's other evidence also fails even to raise an issue as to proximate cause. While Keelan said he was present at the International Monetary Fund headquarters sometime in 1968 and 1969, Carl Amlgren, an insulator, could only recall using Owens-Corning asbestos products at the IMF sometime in the 1960's, and then only for about two months. Keelan testified that he worked at the McCall's printing plant at some point in 1968, and Stransky recalled using Owens-Corning asbestos products there in 1967 and 1968. Further testimony, however, revealed that the McCall's plant was a large building with two or three floors, and there was no other evidence placing Keelan and Stransky anywhere near each other. [12] Given the size of the plant and the broad time span, no trier of fact could reasonably find a causal connection between any Owens-Corning product and Keelan's injuries. Finally, Keelan testified that asbestos products were being used at the Calvert Cliffs power plant when he worked there for a short stint, maybe six months in 1969 and 1970. A pipe coverer named Don Burroughs testified as to his own use of Unibestos, a Pittsburgh Corning product, at Calvert Cliffs, but he was there only for about four months in 1972. Similarly, David Thomas said that he worked with Unibestos while he was employed as an insulator at Calvert Cliffs. He was there, however, from December 1970 to August 1971. There is nothing in the testimony of either Burroughs or Thomas that would permit a trier of fact to identify the asbestos that Keelan saw at Calvert Cliffs in 1969 or early 1970 [13] as a Pittsburgh Corning product, and thus no basis for any imposition of liability on Pittsburgh Corning. In most respects Turner is in the same situation as Claytor and Keelan. Almost all of Turner's evidence is insufficient to show the frequency of his exposure and the regularity of his employment in an area where asbestos products were being used. For example, Turner recalled working at Catholic University at some unspecified time, but he provided almost no further information as to dates or buildings [14] on a multi-building campus. Charles Mankin, the only other witness who worked at Catholic University, also failed to specify the dates when he was there and could identify only one building in which he worked where asbestos products possibly very well could have been in use. Likewise, while Turner testified that he worked at various places where asbestos products were being used, he was almost totally unable to identify any manufacturers or brand names. [15] Turner's case is significantly stronger, however, with regard to his exposure to asbestos at the White House. He testified that during a period of eleven months he worked in the same room  everyone was working in the same room  where asbestos pipes were being cut, and he specifically identified the manufacturer of those products as Owens-Corning. This testimony may or may not persuade a jury to return a favorable verdict, but it is at least sufficient to raise a material issue of fact as to whether Turner's exposure to Owens-Corning products was a substantial factor in causing his injuries. In addition, Turner testified that for several months in 1973 or thereabouts he worked shoulder to shoulder with steam fitters who were installing asbestos products at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He remembered seeing Owens-Corning [pipe insulation] on that job, where everybody was working in the same big open area. We need not decide whether this evidence, standing alone, would suffice to prove causation. Because the standard set forth in section 431 of the Restatement is clearly met by the evidence of Turner's exposure to Owens-Corning products at the White House, and because Owens-Corning was also the manufacturer of the products in use at the Goddard Space Flight Center, in close proximity to where Turner was working, we conclude that the Goddard evidence may be considered along with the White House evidence in any trial of Turner's claim against Owens-Corning.