Several asbestos suits filed

CHARLESTON - A Pittsburgh attorney and his Charleston associate recently filed 12 asbestos lawsuits in Kanawha Circuit Court.

David Chervenick of Pittsburgh law firm Goldberg, Persky and White teamed with Charleston attorney Scott Segal to file the lawsuits, which were filed Nov. 17-22.

The first lawsuit names 83 defendants on behalf of Harold Zohnd. Zohnd says he worked at the Mobay Chemical Plant in New Martinsville from 1962-89 and was exposed to asbestos during his everyday activities, resulting in the lung diseases asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Zohnd, 75, is of Youngstown, Ohio.

Ten other plaintiffs groups filed their lawsuits jointly on Nov. 21. Those are: George Briggs; Courtney Freda, executrix of the Estate of Jerry Courtney; Daniel Demchak, executor of the Estate of Dorothy Demchak; Helen Lewis, executrix of the Estate of David Lewis; David and Willa Linn; Emily McCoy, executrix of the Estate of Raymond McCoy; Rose Marie Ramsay, executrix of the Estate of Richard Ramsay; Sophie Scheehle, executrix of the Estate of Ray Scheehle; Teressa Clark, executrix of the Estate of Basil Swann; and Colleen Taglieri, executrix of the Estate of Dante Taglieri.

Those suits name only two defendants -- Owens-Illinois and Vimasco Corp. of Nitro.

Of the 10 defendants, four worked at Local Union ISU (Briggs, Courtney, Demchak and McCoy). Lewis was of Local 5 of Bricklayers Union, and the other five all belonged to parts of the United Steelworkers Association Union.

Ralph Clark and Alice Clark filed the final suit Nov. 22. It names 84 defendants.

Ralph Clark, 70, says he worked at Union Carbide in Institute from 1959-73 and several other sites in the state during his life.

The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages. A visiting judge will be assigned to their cases