Court Opinion

ID: 9744669
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:11:56.688258+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:50.889058
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE W.A. LEWIS, dissenting: After reviewing the record and reading the majority opinion, I am reminded of the joke about being like a mosquito in a nudist colony. I can see so much work to be done that I do not know where to start. Rather than biting into every problem that is discussed in the majority decision, I will confine myself to several issues which, in my opinion, constitute reversible error. We must keep in mind that the evidence against Pittsburgh Corning was not particularly strong. Assuming that plaintiff’s fellow employees’ memories about the product used and what wording was or was not on the containers 20 years after the event are believable, plaintiff was only exposed for a period of 12 months in 1969-70 to Unibestos and he did not work directly with the product. Plaintiff’s exposure to other asbestos products was more extensive in the 1950’s than his exposure to Unibestos was in 1969-70. This late exposure to defendant’s product resulted in conflicting medical testimony about the latency period required before mesothelioma could develop. Plaintiffs expert maintained that plaintiffs condition could have resulted from the 1969-70 exposure, while defendant’s expert presented evidence that it was eight times more likely that the exposure to asbestos in the 1950’s caused the mesothelioma. It would have been a close call on the jury’s part as to whether Unibestos caused the mesothelioma even if there had been an error-free trial. The first major problem is the holding by the majority that the trial judge’s granting of plaintiffs motion for a continuance of the trial after three days of jury selection, so that plaintiff could hire new counsel and obtain new expert witnesses, was a sanction against the plaintiff for plaintiff’s violation of Rule 220 (134 Ill. 2d R. 220(b)(1)). Presumably, the fact that the trial judge continued the case for 48 days instead of only 30 days, as requested by the plaintiff, must be the sanction against the plaintiff to which the majority is referring. I fail to see how granting plaintiffs motion is a sanction against the plaintiff. Further, if the case is to be continued, why not more than 60 days, so that Rule 220’s purpose is satisfied: "In order to insure fair and equitable preparation for trial *** discovery regarding such expert witnesses will be completed not later than 60 days before the date *** the trial will commence.” (Emphasis added.) 134 Ill. 2d R. 220(b)(1). I now turn to the trial strategy of plaintiffs counsel. Plaintiffs counsel fashioned his attack against defendant from the very outset upon the defendant’s plant conditions. The majority opinion sets out the portion of the plaintiffs opening statement in which counsel accuses the defendant of operating a plant where "virtually every man who worked in there for as little as one month is dead.” What the majority did not set forth is that the plaintiff presented no evidence or study, nor did plaintiff even offer any evidence about a study, that showed virtually every man being dead that worked for one month in the unnamed plant. Defendant alleges in its brief, and plaintiff does not deny or refute such, that the only study showing deaths as a result of asbestos was a study of workers employed by UNARCO at its Patterson, New Jersey, plant between 1941 and 1945. Defendant never bought or operated that plant and it was not until 1962 that defendant bought any assets from UNARCO. Plaintiff deliberately accused defendant in his opening statement of killing persons that plaintiff knew were not even remotely connected to the defendant. We would not hesitate one second to reverse a case in which defense counsel accused plaintiff of irrelevant and untrue immoral acts in its opening statement, especially if the immoral acts were not even committed by the plaintiff. The majority cited Augerstein v. Pulley (1989), 191 Ill. App. 3d 664, 547 N.E.2d 1345, in which this court stated that wide latitude must be afforded counsel during opening statements. However, the majority fails to further point out that in Augerstern, this court also stated: "No statement should be made in counsel’s opening remarks to the jury which counsel does not intend to prove or cannot prove:” (Augerstein, 191 Ill. App. 3d at 670, 547 N.E.2d at 1349.) Why are we tolerating such conduct in this case? Plaintiff next pursued his attack by concentrating his evidence on the conditions at defendant’s manufacturing plants. (I will cover the irrelevancy of this evidence later in this dissent.) Dr. Abrams was called by plaintiff and asked leading questions about defendant’s treatment of its workers, including: Q. It’s downright inhumane, isn’t it? A. Absolutely. Q. Is that an acceptable ethical practice not to tell a man he doesn’t [sic] have asbestos? A. It’s criminal. Criminal. Q. What do you think about a company that would let their people work for eight years in asbestos that causes cancer without telling them anything? A. Well, I think it’s criminal. Q. [N]o information has been provided to the employee. A. Terrible! Q. As a public health official, sir, do you think it’s reasonable for a company to wait until all the diseases that can kill a person are established before they do something to prevent one they have known about for decades? A. Do you believe in the right to know?” Maybe I should not object to a pathologist offering an expert opinion as to the criminality of a party’s conduct. If a pathologist can give an expert opinion in this area, then surely a retired judge can do so. A retired judge with 28 years of experience in the criminal law should be able to demand and receive a large fee for his "expert testimony.” Old judges, unlike old soldiers, may not fade away, they will endure as expert witnesses on the criminality or immorality of a person’s conduct. I presume that if an opinion as to the criminality or immorality of a party’s conduct is admissible, then the defendant should be entitled to call an expert in rebuttal. It may be that in a case involving lots of money, such as this case, all of the retired judges in Illinois may not only supplement their pensions, but they may also be given the continued opportunity to pontificate to a captive audience, the poor jury. I will not even discuss the Supreme Court Rule 220 problems of nondisclosure of the pathologist and his opinion as an expert in criminal law. (See Wakeford v. Rodehouse Restaurants of Missouri, Inc. (1992), 154 Ill. 2d 543, 610 N.E.2d 77.) Suffice it to say that there was no qualifying Dr. Abrams as an expert in criminal law, and thus he was incompetent to offer an opinion as to the criminality of defendant’s conduct in irrelevant matters, i.e., the condition of defendant’s plants and the treatment of its employees. In closing argument, plaintiff’s counsel stated: "Do you think a company that poisons its own employee’s [sic] gives a damn about the people in Madison County?” There was, of course, no evidence as to what defendant or its present management thought about the people of Madison County. For all we know, the defendant may have been the most philanthropic company in the world at the time of the closing argument. How this inanimate, fictional entity treated its employees in 1971 is not proof that the company would deliberately harm the citizens of Madison County and the jurors in June 1990. In fact, I wonder how an inanimate, fictional entity can have personal feelings. This court in Hubbard v. McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. (1980), 83 Ill. App. 3d 272, 283, 404 N.E.2d 311, 320, restated an earlier quote from Manninger v. Chicago & Northwestern Transportation Co. (1978), 64 Ill. App. 3d 719, 730, 381 N.E.2d 383, 391: " 'The constitutional right of trial by jury is not a license for counsel to indulge in abusive and prejudicial conduct in order to gain a verdict, nor does it grant any privilege to embarrass and belittle an adversary before the jury to such an extent that the hope of the adversary to obtain respectful consideration at the hands of the jury is destroyed or seriously jeopardized.’ ” Space prohibits mentioning all of the improper comments by counsel that may be allowed in other States. Illinois, however, has high standards that should not be lowered to accommodate lawyers who may be unfamiliar with our rules. I turn now to the most important and pernicious holding by the majority, the. relevancy of a manufacturer’s plant conditions in a products liability suit. The majority stated that "[ejvidence is relevant if it tends to prove a fact in controversy or render an issue more or less probable.” ( 261 Ill. App. 3d at 723.) I heartily agree. Where I disagree with the majority is that I cannot see how the study and report of William Johnson, a pulmonary disease physician and medical officer for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), as to the Tyler, Texas, plant of the defendant, made in October 1971, gave notice or knowledge to the defendant in 1969-70 that there were problems in its plant. I realize that many science fiction writers have speculated that if you could exceed the speed of light, time could run backwards. These speculations should not be established as the law in the fifth district. The law is quite clear. "[E]vidence of similar post-accident occurrences or injuries involving the same or substantially similar products may not be used to show that a manufacturer acted in conscious disregard of the safety of others and cannot support a claim for punitive damages.” Bass v. Cincinnati, Inc. (1989), 180 Ill. App. 3d 1076, 1083-84, 536 N.E.2d 831, 835. William Johnson testified in person about his report and study, so that this is not a situation where a highly technical stack of papers is handed to the jury, which everyone knows that the jury is not going to read or understand. Johnson went further in his testimony than merely laying a foundation for the report. He actually described the conditions he found in the Tyler plant in October 1971. Further, the report of Johnson referred to other reports made by other agencies of defendant’s plants in 1966 and 1969. There was no evidence that these other reports had been given to the corporate officers of the defendant or that these other agencies had actually made the reports. It looks like hearsay upon hearsay. There were ex-employees who gave equally damaging testimony about the cleanliness of defendant’s plants. The primary question, however, is that, even if the defendant forced its employees to eat and wallow in asbestos from 1962 to 1971, how does that prove that defendant acted in a conscious disregard for the safety of the plaintiff, who was never in defendant’s plant? The relevant matters are notice to the defendant and knowledge of the defendant that asbestos is harmful. Notice involves communication. What communications were made to the defendant that asbestos was dangerous? Those communications were the relevant evidence. It does not matter if asbestos was hanging off the rafters or that the dust was three inches deep on the plant floor, if the defendant was never told that asbestos was harmful. If William Johnson had sent his report to the defendant prior to 1969-70 that asbestos was killing its employees, that communication putting defendant on notice would be relevant, but the truth of the matters contained in the report was not at issue. It did not matter if the defendant’s plants were spotless. Only defendant’s knowledge of the hazardousness of asbestos and how and when that knowledge was revealed to the defendant was relevant. See Kochan v. Owens-Coming Fiberglass Corp. (1993), 242 Ill. App. 3d 781, 610 N.E.2d 683 (for relevancy of notice or communication of the dangers of asbestos to a manufacturer). There are two recent cases that involve testimony as to the plant conditions of the manufacturer in an asbestos case, but in both cases the manufacturer (John Manville) admitted having knowledge of the hazards and the failure to warn of them. (See Wehmeier v. UNR Industries, Inc. (1991), 213 Ill. App. 3d 6, 572 N.E.2d 320; Betts v. Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust (1992), 225 Ill. App. 3d 882, 588 N.E.2d 1193.) Both cases held that evidence of defendants’ plant conditions was not relevant to the issue of causation and foreseeability. In spite of Wehmeier and Betts, the majority opinion hints that evidence of defendant’s plant conditions may be admissible as to the issue of foreseeability. Knowledge and foreseeability are intertwined. You must know that a product is hazardous before you can foresee that the product will cause harm if used improperly. However, the mere fact that a manufacturer may know that his product is dangerous and may misuse its product does not necessarily mean that the manufacturer can foresee that an end user may misuse the product if adequate warnings are given. Perhaps an example may be more illuminating. If it were discovered in 1994 that peach fuzz caused cancer, would evidence that peach fuzz hung off the rafters and was three inches deep on the floor of a packing shed in 1960 be relevant to show that the peach farmer in 1960 had notice and knowledge that peach fuzz was hazardous? The mere fact that there may be dusty conditions in many plants does not in and of itself give notice or impart knowledge to the manufacturer that the particular dust is hazardous. What gives the notice and knowledge to the manufacturer of the hazards are the scientific studies, the warnings by governmental agencies, and the publications of such. If the peach farmer received notice in 1960 that peach fuzz is a carcinogen, then he should either stop selling peaches or provide adequate warning to buyers of his product that face masks should be used by everyone who may come into contact with the peaches until they are peeled. Whether the peach farmer keeps his packing shed spotless and requires his employees to wear masks at all times is irrelevant, if he has not provided adequate warnings to the end user. Moreover, if the peach farmer has provided adequate warnings that would safeguard the end user from the hazard, then it should not be relevant to the end user, who has been adequately warned, if the peach farmer continues to expose his own employees to the hazard. The testimony by the ex-employees and the various experts as to the plant conditions of the defendant was offered only to prejudice the jury against the defendant for mistreating its employees. The result is that it is impossible to tell whether the jury found the defendant liable and awarded punitive damages because of a wrong to the plaintiff, or whether the jury found the defendant liable and awarded punitive damages because of the defendant’s mistreatment of its employees. We can look forward to future cases in which the plaintiffs will attempt to show the defendant /manufacturer to be a Simon Legree. The defendant, in all fairness, will most likely be allowed to rebut such evidence. If such evidence is relevant, then it should be equally relevant not only that the defendant does not treat its employees badly but also that defendant has received hundreds of awards from various business and manufacturing associations for its safety record and its excellent treatment of its employees and that OSHA and other government agencies have certified defendant’s plants to be safe and clean. I presume that if the plaintiff does not raise the issue, defendant could still do so if treatment of defendant’s employees and the condition of its plants is relevant to a products liability case. Will the plaintiff be required to sit silently by while a defendant presents weeks of evidence of all the safety efforts and precautions defendant implements in its plants and how wonderfully defendant treats its employees for the purpose of proving that the defendant would not knowingly hurt the users of its products? The cigarette and chemical cases most readily come to mind; in these cases evidence from both sides may inundate the trial court. Plaintiffs may be placed at a real disadvantage, if well-financed defendants and their manufacturing associations see this case as an opening to project the good corporate image before the jury. The real issues in a products liability case are going to be lost in all of the irrelevant shenanigans that will be attempted as a result of the majority ruling. I do not wish to prolong my dissent by discussing the many other errors in the trial, as it would serve very little purpose. By merely reading the majority opinion, it is readily apparent that there were numerous other problems with the trial. Suffice it to say, I would reverse and remand for a fair trial.