Belmont couple names 65 companies in asbestos suit

CHARLESTON -- A Belmont couple is suing 65 companies they claim are responsible for asbestos exposure.

On June 16, 2009, Jack Landis Tawney was diagnosed with asbestosis, according to a complaint filed May 23 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Tawney claims he was exposed to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products during his employment with Union Carbide from 1952 until 1985.

The defendants are being sued upon the theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.

Tawney and his wife, Frances E. Tawney, are seeking a jury trial to resolve all issues. They are being represented by Bronwyn I. Rinehart.

The case has been assigned to a visiting judge.

The 65 companies named as defendants are 3M Company; A.W. Chesterton Company; Aurora Pump Company; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Buffalo Pumps, Inc.; BW IP, Inc.; Carrier Inc.; Carrier Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Chicago Pump Company; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Crane Company; Crown, Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; Dezurik, Inc.; Dow Chemical Company; Durabla Manufacturing Company; Eaton Corporation; Elliott Turbo Machinery Company, Inc.; Flowserve US, Inc. f/k/a Flowserve FSD Corporation f/k/a Durametallic Corp.; Flowserve US, Inc. f/k/a Durco International, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company, Inc.; General Refractories Company; Georgia Pacific Corporation; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell Corporation; Honeywell International; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; ITT Corporation; John Crane, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Corporation; Met-Pro Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Mueller Steam Specialty; Nagle Pumps; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Peerless Pumps; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Roper Pump Company; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Sundyne Corporation; Superior Welding Company; Taco, Inc.; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Chemical & Plastics Company; Uniroyal, Inc.; Viacom, Inc.; Viking Pump, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Weil-McLain Company; West Virginia Electric Supply; Yarway Corporation; and Zurn Industries, Inc.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 11-C-846