Mass Tort Update- |
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Mass Tort Update
Inchauspe v. United States
Date: December 18, 1990
RESULT: The court awarded the 64-year-old plaintiff $750,000, the 54-year-old plaintiff $275,000, the 26-year old plaintiff $100,000, and the 24-year-old plaintiff $75,000.
STATE: California
SUMMARY: On September 26, 1986, four asbestos insulation workers were injured when they were exposed to freon vapors in an enclosed space aboard a Navy ship.
Plaintiffs' employer contracted to perform asbestos removal work aboard a Navy ship that was in drydock. The work that the Navy was having done included work to increase the air conditioning capacity of the ship. To do this, the compressor in the air conditioning compartment had to be removed and replaced. This required removing the asbestos insulation from the pipes in the compartment so that the pipes could be cut away and the compressor could be removed.
The compressor contained freon, which is a solvent and can be toxic. It has a relatively low boiling point and vaporizes at normal room temperature. It can be transformed into other chemical compounds when it reacts with lubricating oil or metal such as steel or copper. The reaction can occur at temperatures as low as 225 degrees. There were steam pipes in the compartment that had temperatures of 225 to 250 degrees. It was probable that the freon was mixed with lubricating oil and metal shavings from the compressor.
The Navy removed the freon from the compressor and stored it in drums that were left in the compartment. There were no warnings as to the hazardous nature of the freon, even though Navy regulations require that a warning sign be posted in a freon storage area. At least one of the five drums was missing a cap, and there was evidence that two other caps were very loosely screwed on. The compartment was tightly sealed to keep asbestos fibers from escaping.
Within a minute or two after entering the compartment, the four plaintiffs all began to experience difficulty breathing and began to feel dizzy and nauseous. They left the compartment within two to five minutes when they began to feel they were suffocating.
Plaintiffs sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act for negligently creating a hazardous condition by storing the freon in the compartment where plaintiffs were working, failing to screw on the caps of the drums and failing to warn of the danger.
Defendant denied any negligence and also contended that plaintiffs' claim should have been brought under the admiralty statute rather than the FTCA.
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