Ohio woman names 83 companies for husband's asbestos exposure, death

CHARLESTON -- A Lawrence County, Ohio, woman is suing 83 companies after she claims they are responsible for her husband's lung cancer and eventual death.

Bernard C. Belville was employed by Insulator Local 80 in West Virginia for approximately 26 years and was exposed to various insulating and building materials that contained asbestos, according to a complaint filed June 7 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Naomi J. Belville claims her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer and died June 20, 2008.

The defendants are guilty of negligence for manufacturing, distributing, selling and supplying asbestos and asbestos-containing products, according to the suit.

Mrs. Belville claims the defendants failed to warn her husband of the dangers of asbestos.

Mrs. Belville is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by William K. Schwartz.

The case has been assigned to a visiting judge.

The companies named in the suit are 3M Company; A.W. Chesterton Company; Allied Chemical Corporation; American Cyanamid Company; American Electric Power Service Corporation; Anchor Packing Company; Appalachian Power Company; Aristech Chemical Corporation; Armco Steel Corporation; Ashland Oil, Inc.; Aurora Pump Company; B.F. Goodrich Company; Bayer Corporation; Bayer Cropscience, Inc.; Benjamin F. Shaw Company; 4520 Corp., Inc.; Borg-Warner Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Burns International Services Corporation; Cameron International Corporation; Catalytic Construction Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Crane Co.; Crown, Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; DeZurik, Inc.; Dow Chemical Company; E. I. DuPont de Nemours; Elkem Metals, Inc.; Flowserve FSD Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc., and its Byron Jackson Division; Flowserve US, Inc., f/k/a Durco International, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Ford, Bacon & Davis, LLC; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; Foster Wheeler U.S.A. Corporation; the Gage Company; Garlock, Inc.; General Electric Company; George V. Hamilton, Inc.; Georgia Pacific Corporation; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; Honeywell International f/k/a Allied Signal, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; ITT Corporation; John Crane, Inc.; Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc.; Kentucky Power Company; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company; Monongahela Power Company; Monsanto Company; Mueller Steam Specialty; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; National Service Industries, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; North Bros., Inc.; NSI Ventures, Inc.; Occidental Chemical Corporation; Ohio Power Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Onyx Industrial Services, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Peerless Pumps, Inc.; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power, Inc.; Ross Brothers Construction Co.; SFB Companies, Inc.; Shell Oil Company; Square D Company; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (US), LLC; Surface Combustion, Inc.; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; the Gorman-Rupp Company; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Corporation; Uniroyal, Inc.; United States Steel Corporation; Vimasco Corporation; Virginia Electric Power Company; Viacom, Inc.; West Virginia Electric Supply; Worthington Pump; and Westvaco Corporation.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 10-C-1015