Pittsburgh couple names 89 companies in asbestos suit

CHARLESTON -- A Pittsburgh, Pa., couple named 89 companies as defendants in their asbestos-related law suit.

Darryl R. Kunkel was exposed to asbestos products of the defendants when he was exposed to his father's asbestos-laden clothes from 1965 until 1994, according to a complaint filed April 8 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Kunkel claims his father was employed as a truck driver from 1961 until 1994 and drove to numerous industrial and commercial facilities.

On Jan. 22, Kunkel, 44, was diagnosed with mesothelioma, according to the suit.

Kunkel and his wife, Dianne C. Burkhart, claim the defendants failed to exercise ordinary care and should have known the asbestos and asbestos-containing material were deadly, poisonous and highly harmful to Kunkel's body, lungs, respiratory system, skin and health.

Kunkel and Burkhart are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Brian A. Prim.

The case has been assigned to a visiting judge.

The 89 companies named as defendants in the case are A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; AK Steel Corporation; Allegheny Energy Service Corporation; Allied Chemical Corporation; Allied Glove Corporation; American Optical Corporation; Aqua-Chem, Inc.; Atlas Industries, Inc.; Bayer Corporation; Beazer East, Inc.; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Cashco, Inc.; CBS Corporation; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Co.; Crown, Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; DeZurik, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; Durametallic Corporation; E. I. DuPont de Nemours; Eaton Corporation; Elsa Benson, Inc.; Electrolux Home Products; F.B. Wright Company; Fairmont Supply Company; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; Garlock, Inc.; General Electric Company; George V. Hamilton, Inc.; Goulds Pumps; Greene Tweed & Co.; Grinnell Corporation; Hedman Resources Limited; Honeywell International, Inc.; Honeywell, Inc.; Hunter Sales Corporation; Huntington Alloys Corporation; I. U. North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories Company; J.M. Foster, Inc.; Joy Technologies, Inc.; Leslie Controls, Inc.; M.S. Jacobs & Associates, Inc.; Mallinckrodt, Inc.; Marley Cooling Tower; McCann Shields Paint Company; McCarl's, Inc.; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Milton Roy Company; Minnotte Contracting Corporation; Monongahela Power Company; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Plotkin Brothers Supply, LLP; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Powell Valve Company; Power Piping Company; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Riley Stoker Corporation; Safety First Industries, Inc.; Saint-Gobain Abrasive, Inc.; Sealite, Inc.; Square D Company; Stockham Valves & Fittings; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; Thiem Corp.; Townsend & Bottum, Inc.; Treco Construction Services, Inc.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Unifrax Corporation; Union Carbide Corporation; United Conveyor Corporation; United States Steel Corporation; Vimasco Corporation; Washington Group International; and WMX Technologies, Inc.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 10-C-672