A class action was filed seeking to represent welders, welder helpers, decedents and survivors in Texas, Wyoming, North Carolina and Louisiana; the complaints allege a cumulative risk of increased neurological injury from exposure to welding fumes and dozens of industrial chemicals.
Frank Brevard is the sole, named plaintiff in one of the class action complaints. He seeks to recover for claims in Texas, Wyoming and North Carolina. William Ainsworth, Larry Goodson, J.K. Kinsler, Lloyd Kee, James M. Milam, Russell Nalls, Amos Snow, Louis Woodruff and Helen Towns, as the representative of the estate of Sterling Towns, seek to represent claims in Texas and Louisiana. Both cases were filed in accordance with the Dec. 5 tolling claims order in the national welding fume products liability litigation
Each putative class action alleges claims against Lincoln Electric Co.; Linde Inc, f/k/a The BOC Group Inc.; The ESAB Group Inc.; TDY Industries Inc.; Hobart Brothers Co.; A.O. Smith Corp.; Airgas-Gulfstates Inc.; Polarit Welding Inc.; Eutectic Corp.; and Sandvik Inc. They allege that the welding consumables manufacturers failed to warn about risks of manganese, chromium, lead, copper and other heavy metals in welding fumes and of the synergistic and cumulative effects of welding fumes and dozens of toxicants that they aver causes neurological injuries.
The complaint alleges that, "as a direct and proximate result and product of the wrongful conduct of Defendants as described herein, Plaintiffs suffer from personal injuries which are serious, long lasting, and permanent," Brevard says. "As a result of their personal injuries, Plaintiffs seek a recovery of damage for one or more of the following elements: (a) pain, suffering, and mental anguish, past and future; (b) loss of earning capacity, past and future; (c) disfigurement, past and future; (d) physical impairment, past and future; (e) mental impairment, past and future; (f) medical expenses and care, past and future; (g) household services, past and future; (h) loss of consortium, past and future; (i) medical monitoring, (j) fear of cancer or future disease; and (k) funeral and burial expenses for the deceased Plaintiffs."
