Court Opinion

ID: 9570089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:20:07.832383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:55.551390
License: Public Domain

Littlejohn, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent and would affirm the order of Judge John Hamilton Smith.
The several actions were commenced in 1979,1980,1981 and 1982 by claimants allegedly suffering from asbestosis. They seek recovery from various manufacturers and distributors from exposure to asbestos products, primarily based on theories of negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability in tort. No claims for workmen’s compensation have been filed. No disability, as defined by our Workmen’s Compensation Statute, has developed and conceivably many or even all of the claimants may never have a disability warranting workmen’s compensation.
Claims of the type pursued in these actions are subject to our statute of limitations. They must be brought within the allotted time and should be disposed of in routine- fashion. Judge Smith took the position, and I agree, that the defendants are entitled to have the litigation ended by trial. The gravamen of the majority holding is to prolong the statute of limitations and void it sofar as these actions are concerned. If the dilemma is unfortunate for these plaintiffs, it is because of the statutory law which declares the rights of the parties.
I agree with the trial judge’s order when he said:
Courts generally employ a ‘stay’ of proceedings when there is another issue pending between the same parties in another action and the resolution of that issue will affect the action sought to be stayed. 1 Am. Jur. (2d) Abatement, Survival and Revival Sec. 3.
The Plaintiffs in the present action do not seek a stay to resolve any issue in another action that would bear on these cases. The entitlement of the Plaintiffs’ to workmen’s compensation has nothing to do with the merits of the pending actions.
Here it is unknown how long these matters would have to *121be stayed but certainly it would be years. In the interim the Defendants still must retain attorneys to protect their interests and the cases will be reflected on financial records as potential carrying these lawsuits on the dockets of the courts as pending matters.
In staying proceedings, the trial judge should have a wide discretion. The litigants here are not entitled to a stay as a matter of law, and I find no abuse.
I would affirm.