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Welders Preparing For Possible Lawsuits Firm: Fumes could have caused illness By Peter Dujardin Daily Press February 27, 2004 NEWPORT NEWS -- A Newport News law firm is investigating whether local shipyard welders suffered brain damage from overexposure to dangerous fumes on the job, gearing up for probable lawsuits against companies that make a key piece of welding equipment. Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, one of the area's largest firms that handles workplace injury cases, is testing more than 1,000 past and current welders employed by local shipyards and other businesses for symptoms of excessive exposure to the fumes. The firm is preparing to make claims in local courts that makers of welding rods - which melt during the fusion process - concealed the danger of manganese fumes. The firm plans to assert that the companies did not adequately warn welders to use proper ventilation when using the product. "These cases will revolve around what the industry knew, and what they did with that knowledge," said H. Duncan Garnett Jr., an attorney with Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein. The law firm, known for its involvement in cases against asbestos companies, bought an advertisement in the January issue of The Voyager, the newsletter for the Local 8888 of the United Steelworkers of America. The union represents hourly workers, including welders, at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. In the ad, welders and those who have worked around welding fumes are asked to call the law firm if they have any of a host of physical ailments, such as slurred speech, loss of balance, tremors, and other Parkinson's-like symptoms. The law office also spread word of the potential litigation to Local 540 of the Plumbers & Steamfitters Union and other unions, inviting current and former welders to get tested. Nine doctors were flown to Newport News from Texas by the firm in recent weeks to conduct preliminary tests on more than 1,000 workers. If further testing reveals manganese overexposure, the firm plans to sue on behalf of the workers. Gaining nationwide attention Lawsuits against makers of welding rods have gained more attention since October, when an Illinois jury awarded $1 million to a 65-year-old welder who sued three manufacturers. Prior to that case, which has been appealed, this kind of litigation largely had been unsuccessful. But the October verdict has spurred hundreds of similar cases nationwide. But an attorney representing 14 different welding rod makers - including the big three of Lincoln Electric, in Cleveland; Hobart Brothers, in Troy, Ohio; and Airco, a division of British Oxygen Corp. in London - said the suits have no basis. He termed the Illinois case "an aberration," a product of having been tried in what he said was one of the most plaintiff-friendly counties in the country, Madison County, Ill. "No evidence that we have seen indicates that welding rods used in ordinary welding circumstances can cause neurological damage," said Charles Read, with the New York firm of O'Melveny & Myers. "This process didn't start with doctors, it started with lawyers, who have distributed advertisements urging people to be tested. But they are mistaken if they think welding fume litigation is their next big windfall." Welding, the process of fusing metal parts, is heavily used in manufacturing everything from ships to cars to planes to construction equipment. Manganese, a component of some welding rods, helps strengthen the fused metals. The lawsuits claim that because of inadequate warnings from welding rod makers, welders didn't always use adequate ventilation in their workspaces - like a personal respirator or piped ventilation. The suits allege welders breathed in the manganese fumes, which then traveled to the brain causing damage. There's no scientific consensus about whether welding rods can lead to overexposure. Some scientists say other occupations, such as mining, can result in significant manganese poisoning. But with welding rods, some scientists, such as Brad Racette, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, say there's a possible connection between manganese fumes overexposure from welding and brain injury. But others claim no link has been established. Before the breakthrough in the Illinois case, about 10 lawsuits against welding companies had failed in recent years. Building the case The results of the testing in Newport News is now being analyzed by the Texas doctors, who will decide which workers move on to a second stage and undergo more extensive testing by a neurologist. Garnett, of Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, would not say how many workers he thinks that will be, and he would not estimate how many suits his firm plans to file. A Norfolk law firm, Glasser & Glasser, is preparing to handle cases for many of the workers at shipyards and other businesses in South Hampton Roads. It plans to test more than 700 people - and possibly more - within the next few months, said Bill Monroe, an attorney with that firm. Patten, Wornom, Hatten and Diamonstein, which has handled thousands of asbestos-related lawsuits involving workers in Hampton Roads, has been working for more than a year on the welding issue with Ranier, Gayle and Elliot, a law firm in Lake Charles, La. That Gulf Coast company has about 250 cases, representing about 5,000 to 6,000 workers, pending against big makers of welding rods on behalf of welders in Louisiana and Mississippi. The firm tested about 20,000 workers. The lawsuits under way in Louisiana do not name the shipyards as defendants in the suit, and the suits in Newport News won't do so either, Garnett said. Brett Powers, an attorney handling the litigation for Rainer, Gayle and Elliot, asserted that welding rod manufacturers were deceptive to the workers, to shipyards and to other companies that bought the rods. "The shipyards are almost like a co-victim on these cases," Powers said. "We have plenty of documents that show that sophisticated employers inquired to the welding rod industry about safety, and the industry misled them. They said it's safe and it's nothing to worry about. Not only did the welders not know of the hazards, the welders' bosses didn't know either." The Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard did not comment on whether it agrees with the law firms that say warning labels on the welding rods were inadequate. The shipyard also would not identify the processes it uses to make sure its welders are safe from fumes. But the Newport News shipyard did say it has "not been made aware of any employee injuries related to fumes from welding rods." "We are dedicated to maintaining a safe workplace and use engineering controls, personal protective equipment and other methods to ensure the safety of our employees in all of our operations, to include welding," company spokeswoman Jerri Fuller Dickseski said in a statement. Alton H. Glass Sr., president of Local 8888 of the Steelworkers Union and a former shipyard welder, said he doesn't know of any cases in which workers have suffered brain damage from inhaling too much manganese, but he supports testing to check for overexposure. Peter Dujardin can be reached at 247-4749 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask] SOURCE: Hampton Roads Daily Press, VA http://tinyurl.com/277c6 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn