Tennessee Mesothelioma Suit Goes to Supreme Court

MARYVILLE, Tennessee – A Tennessee father’s mesothelioma lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases testing the waters of secondhand asbestos exposure as a viable legal concept. Amanda Satterfield filed a lawsuit against ALCOA, Inc., and Breeding Insulation Co. Inc., back in 2003. In the suit, she claimed that she had developed the deadly cancer, mesothelioma as a result of childhood exposure to asbestos that was brought home on the person and clothing of her father, Doug Satterfield. The elder Satterfield hauled asbestos for ALCOA for many years.

Amanda Satterfield died of mesothelioma on January 1, 2005. Her father was named executor of the estate and the lawsuit continued. She spent the last two years of her life, and her father the next two years of his, battling the legal system to win justice for his daughter. The lawsuit has dragged on for more than four years in the Tennessee legal system with dismissals, appeals and reversals.

Amanda filed the lawsuit on December 8, 2003 in Blount County Circuit Court. Her suit alleges that ALCOA didn’t warn her father of the dangers of asbestos exposure. It goes on to state that she was exposed to asbestos dust and fibers from birth from her father’s use of asbestos products and “inadvertent introduction” of asbestos dust and fibers into their home. Her father, Doug, hauled asbestos for ALCOA starting in 1973, returning to work there after a stint in the military.

The lawsuit seeks $10 million in compensatory and $10 million in punitive damages. Doug Satterfield told a judge at a 2006 hearing that the suit isn’t about the money. It’s about justice and what’s right.

The case was dismissed by Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young in March 2006. Satterfield’s attorneys filed an appeal and the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed Young’s decision and reinstated the lawsuit. ALCOA was charged with the cost of the appeal.

The particulars of the case include allegations that Doug Satterfield was exposed to asbestos that was sold by Breeding Insulation; that in February 1983, ALCOA implemented a policy to keep asbestos exposure information out of its employee records; that a 1995 ALCOA training instructor manual stated that families of workers had suffered significant exposures to asbestos through contaminated clothing brought home from the workplace; that Doug Satterfield was exposed to asbestos dust and asbestos-containing products daily in his work, and returned home in clothes covered with dust from ALCOA.

Amanda was born prematurely in 1979, and spent her first three months at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Her father visited her directly from work each day. The suit alleges that Amanda Satterfield was exposed to asbestos daily from the day of her birth, and that despite the fact that Doug Satterfield worked around furnace insulation and as a maintenance worker, he was never warned of the risks associated with asbestos exposure or the danger of taking asbestos dust home on his clothing. The end result of the defendants’ negligence, the suit alleges, is that Amanda Satterfield developed mesothelioma as a result of her exposure to the defendants’ asbestos products.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear arguments on the case on Tuesday morning.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Asbestos Litigation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.