Chavers v. General Motors Corp.

79 S.W.3d 361, 349 Ark. 550, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 407
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 5, 2002
Docket01-1410
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 79 S.W.3d 361 (Chavers v. General Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chavers v. General Motors Corp., 79 S.W.3d 361, 349 Ark. 550, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 407 (Ark. 2002).

Opinion

Donald L. Corbin, Justice.

This is an appeal of the Hempstead County Circuit Court’s order granting summary judgment. Appellant Deidra M. Chavers filed a wrongful-death action, in both her individual capacity and as representative of the Estate of James Chavers, alleging that Appellees General Motors Corporation (“GM”), AlliedSignal, Inc., and Ford Motor Company, as manufacturers and distributors of asbestos-containing friction products, were responsible for the death of her husband James Chavers. On appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court erred in (1) granting Appellees’ motions for summary judgment, and (2) applying the “frequency, regularity, and proximity” test to the issue of causation. This case was certified to us from the Arkansas Court of Appeals as involving an issue of first impression; hence, our jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1 — 2(b)(1). We affirm.

Mr. Chavers was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer of the membrane lining the lungs, chest cavity, and abdominal cavity. According to the wrongful-death action filed by Mrs. Chavers, her husband contracted mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to various asbestos-containing products, including brake products manufactured by each of the Appellees. 1 Specifically, GM was responsible for selling various brakes under the Delco name, while AlliedSignal sold brakes under the Bendix trade name.

Prior to his death, Mr. Chavers was deposed in connection with the pending litigation. According to his deposition testimony, one of Mr. Chavers’s earliest known exposures to asbestos occurred while working for E. L. Bruce & Company, a furniture and hardwood flooring company, from 1960-1966. Mr. Chavers believed that the covering found on the overhead pipes in his work area contained asbestos. Mr. Chavers stated that he also worked for many years in the construction industry, performing both residential and commercial construction jobs. He estimated that sixty-five to seventy percent of his career was spent doing construction work. One task he often performed was putting up sheetrock. Mr. Chavers explained that this required him to apply a joint compound that contained asbestos in the seams of the sheetrock. This joint compound was delivered to the construction site dry and contained in a bag. Mr. Chavers was required to dump the bag into a five-gallon bucket and mix it with water. He then applied it to the sheetrock by rolling it on with a stick or trowel. Next, the compound had to be sanded, a process that he described as dusty.

Mr. Chavers also testified that he worked for Burks Wrecking, a demolition company, for two to three years. While employed by Burks, he worked on several large commercial projects in Little Rock, including the demolition of the old Greyhound Bus Station. Mr. Chavers testified that the bus station contained asbestos. He also described this job as one involving a lot of dirt and dust.

Mr. Chavers testified further that he was a “shade tree mechanic.” In other words, he performed mechanical work on his own automobiles, as well as on the automobiles of friends and family members. His work on cars mainly consisted of replacing brakes and transmissions. He started doing this type of work in 1955 or 1956. Mr. Chavers stated that he worked primarily on Fords, but also worked on Chevrolets and Chryslers. He usually worked on older vehicles and did not know whether the brakes he took off were original or replacement parts, but he assumed the brakes had previously been replaced. Mr. Chavers estimated that he changed about twelve to fifteen sets of brakes per year.

When he began performing brake jobs, he primarily worked on drum brakes. Mr. Chavers explained that replacing a set of drum brakes required him to blow dust out of the drum before putting new brakes on the car. Mr. Chavers also stated that he used several different brands of brakes, including Bendix, Wagner, Delco, and AC-Delco. He also recalled on one occasion removing a set of brakes stamped FOMOCO, which stands for Ford Motor Company. According to Mr. Chavers, Bendix was his favorite type of brakes to use and the type he used most often. He bought most of his brakes from Western Auto or Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company (“OTASCO”). Mr. Chavers stated that he continued to do brake jobs until 1999. The last time he replaced drum brakes, however, was in 1998.

Deidra Chavers was deposed on April 12, 2001. She had no knowledge of any specific product that her husband had contact with that contained asbestos. She did state that he told her once that he had heard that the dust at construction sites contained asbestos and that he often came home from his construction jobs dirty and dusty. She stated that her husband never worked as a full-time mechanic; rather, he just worked on cars in the front yard.

Dr. James Bruce, a forensic pathologist, was retained as an expert by Appellant in this case. He was deposed on April 25, 2001. He stated that his knowledge of Mr. Chavers’s work history consisted of the fact that from 1961 through 1977, he was exposed to asbestos materials on various residential and commercial construction sites. Dr. Bruce further stated that these materials consisted of insulation, joint compound, and automotive friction products. He admitted that he did not know what type of asbestos fibers are contained in any of those three materials, except that chrysotile fibers are generally found in automotive friction products. Dr. Bruce opined, however, that any type of asbestos fiber to which Mr. Chavers was exposed during the sixteen-year period could have contributed to his malignant mesothelioma.

He also stated that the most prevalent fibers found in individuals with no occupational exposure to asbestos was chrysotile, probably due to its prevalence in insulation materials in buildings. The following colloquy then took place between defense counsel and Bruce:

Q. If chrysotile is, in your opinion, a contributing factor for mesothelioma, why is it that the general population who has no occupational exposure to asbestos does not have a higher incidence of mesothelioma when they in fact have been exposed to chrysotile?
A. Well, there must be some threshold level, whatever it is, that is generally required to produce changes. We see and have reported people with some ferruginous bodies in their lungs but we have a normal range for that. So the fact that some is there does not mean that there’s enough to cause disease.
Q. So there is a dose relationship situation that exists here? You have to be exposed to enough of the stuff over some period of time to cause the disease?
A. Yes.
Q. You just don’t happen to know what that threshold level is in this case?
A. No, and that’s a point that’s debated, what is the threshold, and I don’t think that’s really been determined. [Emphasis added.]

Bruce also stated that at trial he would testify that all exposures to asbestos, given appropriate latency periods, would be significant factors in Mr. Chavers’s mesothelioma.

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Bluebook (online)
79 S.W.3d 361, 349 Ark. 550, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chavers-v-general-motors-corp-ark-2002.