A trial which names DuPont in a case of asbestos exposure is nearing the end of its fourth week in the 172nd Judicial District Court, and courtroom fireworks continue to build. The family of plaintiff Willis Whisnat Jr. contends that the pipefitter was exposed to asbestos during the time that he worked at DuPont as an independent contractor, and that exposure eventually resulted in mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer that is only found in those exposed to asbestos. Whisnat died of mesothelioma at the age of 72.

The trial began on February 21, and is expected to last through next week. Earlier this week, tempers flared in the courtroom as attorneys for the defense questioned a health expert about safety precautions in use at the DuPont plant in the 1960s, and implied that Whisnat did not follow them. Wednesday, attorneys spent the morning arguing about which evidence and which witnesses would be allowed into consideration.

Whisnat was a pipefitter working for B.F. Shaw who worked as an independent contractor for DuPont in 1966. Attorneys for DuPont sought to enter B.F. Shaw employee records into evidence, claiming that they would show that Whisnat spent most of his time at the Sabine Works, a DuPont facility, in areas isolated from asbestos. DuPont was able to recover those records despite the fact that B.F. Shaw closed in 1988. The plaintiffs argued that those records had not been authenticated. They “could have been produced on a word processor,” claimed the lawyers for Whisnat’s family. Judge Floyd did not allow the records into evidence.

Floyd also declined to hear the testimony of an independent contractor who worked at another DuPont facility. The employee was going to testify that B.F. Shaw warned its employees of the dangers of asbestos, and that workers were instructed to wear dust masks when working in areas of heavy asbestos dust.

Attorneys for DuPont argued that the plaintiffs were simply trying to ban any evidence that contradicts their case.

Whisnat’s family joined a class-action suit against DuPont after his death. The suit claims that DuPont negligently and maliciously exposed workers to asbestos even after the company knew that asbestos dust and fibers cause health hazards, including the mesothelioma that killed Whisnat.

Plaintiff’s attorney Glen Morgan made a compelling opening statement that has been widely quoted across the country. Morgan stated that DuPont’s asbestos policies during the 60s, 50s and 40s were so malicious that the company’s “right to exist should be taken away”.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Asbestos Litigation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.