CHARLESTON – An Ona man is suing 55 companies he claims are responsible for his lung injury.
Wayne Junior Rider was diagnosed with a lung injury on Jan. 28, 2012, according to a complaint filed Feb. 28 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Rider claims he started smoking when he was in the Navy and smoked until 1978, but never smoked more than one pack of cigarettes per day.
The defendants exposed Rider to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products during his employment at various work sites in and around West Virginia from 1944 until 1980, according to the suit.
Rider claims the defendants are being sued based upon the theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn.
Certain defendants are also being sued as premises owners and as Rider’s employers for deliberate intent/intentional tort, according to the suit.
Rider is seeking a jury trial to resolve all issues involved. He is being represented by James A. McKowen of James F. Humphreys & Associates.
The case has been assigned to a visiting judge.
The 55 defendants in the suit include 3M Company; A.C.F. Industries; A.W. Chesterton Company; Aurora Pump Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Buffalo Pumps, Inc.; CBS Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; and Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 13-C-418
Man blames 55 companies in asbestos suit
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