Korol, J. v. Aurora Pump Company

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided February 14, 2023·No. 1373 EDA 2022·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

JOYCE KOROL, ADMINISTRATOR OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE ESTATE OF THOMAS PHILLIP : PENNSYLVANIA KOROL, DECEASED :

:

Appellant :

:

:

v. :

: No. 1373 EDA 2022

:

AURORA PUMP COMPANY; BON L. : MANUFACTURING (INDIVIDUALLY : AND AS SUCCESSOR-BY-MERGER TO : CAPITOL PRODUCTS CORPORATION, : SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO DAVIS : ENGINEERING COMPANY); BW/IP : INTERNATIONAL, INC. (SUED : INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SUCCESSOR- : IN-INTEREST TO BYRON JACKSON : PUMP COMPANY); CARRIER : CORPORATION; CLEAVER-BROOKS, : INC. (F/K/A AQUA-CHEM, INC. D/B/A : CLEAVER-BROOKS DIVISION, : INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SUCCESSOR- : IN-INTERST TO DAVIS ENGINEERING : COMPANY) CRANE CO. (SUED : INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SUCCESSOR- : IN-INTEREST TO COCHRANE : CORPORATION); CRANE : ENVIRONMENTAL, INC. (SUED : INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SUCCESSOR- : IN-INTEREST TO COCHRANE : CORPORATION); CROWN CORK AND : SEAL COMPANY, INC.; DURABLA : MANUFACTURING COMPANY; : FLOWERSERVE US, INC. (SUED AS : SUCCESSOR TO BW/IP : INTERNATIONAL, INC. SUCCESSOR- : IN-INTEREST TO BYRON JACKSON : PUMP COMPANY); GENERAL : ELECTRIC COMPANY; THE : GOODYEAR TIRE AND RUBBER :

COMPANY (SUED INDIVIDUALLY AND :

AS SUCCESSOR TO DURABLA :

MANUFACTURING); GREEN, TWEED :

AND CO., INC.; IMO INDUSTRIES, :

INC. (SUED INDIVIDUALLY AND AS :

SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO :

DELAVAL TURBINE, INC.; INGERSOLL :

RAND COMPANY; JOHN CRANE, INC.; :

THE NASH ENGINEERING COMPANY; :

PECORA CORPORATION; SUPERIOR- :

LIDGERWOOD-MUNDY :

CORPORATION (SUED INDIVIDUALLY :

AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST :

TO M.T. DAVIDSON); WARREN :

PUMPS, LLC.

Appeal from the Order Entered April 26, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Civil Division at No(s): 190301223

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., LAZARUS, J., and SULLIVAN, J. MEMORANDUM BY LAZARUS, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 14, 2023 Appellant Joyce Korol, Administrator of the Estate of Thomas Phillip Korol (Decedent), appeals from the order, entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, granting summary judgment in favor of Appellees Crane Company (Crane) and Warren Pump Company (Warren) (collectively, Defendants). After careful review, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

Decedent was diagnosed, post-mortem, with malignant mesothelioma

on June 13, 2017.1 Decedent had served as a United States Navy fireman

1 Decedent died on June 11, 2017, and his diagnosis was confirmed during an autopsy. Decedent had been scheduled for a lung biopsy on June 2, 2017, but was unable to proceed with the procedure. See Plaintiff’s Answers to Interrogatories, at 3.

and fireman’s apprentice aboard the U.S.S. Dahlgren from 1961 to 1963. During his service, Decedent was allegedly exposed to asbestos while working with valves manufactured and sold by Crane2 and pumps sold by Warren.3 On March 8, 2019, Appellant filed a complaint4 against Defendants alleging that Decedent’s diagnosis of mesothelioma was caused, in part, from his asbestos exposure to Defendants’ products while working on the Navy vessel.

To support her cause of action, Appellant relied on the testimony of David Anthony Warren (David),5 Gene Brown, and Charles Clay, who also

2 Although the valves were made exclusively of metal, individuals were exposed to asbestos through external packing and insulation associated with the valves. Similar to the process with pumps, see infra at n.3, if there was a leak around the shaft of a valve, a sailor would often have to replace the packing by first taking off the nuts or bolts on the valve, remove the old packing, and put in a new piece of packing. See Deposition Testimony of David Anthony Warren, 4/7/20, at 64. Oftentimes the old packing was not easily removed so “you’d have to take a little pick and pick it all out and just get it clean.” Id.

3 The pumps contained asbestos components, including rope packing, insulation, and gaskets. In order to repair a leaking pump, a worker would turn the pump off, take out all the bolts, and then either pry apart the pipe or move the pump out of the way to get to the flange. Then, they would scrape out what was left of the old gasket by using a wire brush or putty knife, put on a new gasket, and bolt it back together. Id. at 36-37, 44-45, 51. However, sometimes the seal around the bolt holes was not good, so the sailors would have to cut new gaskets for the flanges on the pumps. Id. at 42. The gasket material came in rolls and sheets. Id. at 48-49.

4 Decedent smoked cigarettes “from approximately the 1960s to 2009. During this time the most he smoked was approximately one (1) pack per day.” Complaint, 3/8/19, at 12.

5To minimize confusion between deponent David Anthony Warren and Warren Pumps, we will refer to the individual as David throughout this memorandum.

served aboard the U.S.S. Dahlgren during the time Decedent was onboard the ship. David “occasionally” worked with Decedent in a fireroom aboard the vessel and identified pumps in the ship’s engine rooms as being manufactured by Warren and some valves on the ship (in either engine rooms or firerooms) as being manufactured by Crane. Deposition of David Anthony Warren, 4/7/20, at 21-22, 28-30. In the two to three months he worked in the fireroom with Decedent, David never saw Decedent work on any pump or anyone else working on a pump in Decedent’s presence. However, David testified that “if you worked in the fireroom or the engine room, you packed valves and you packed pumps.” Deposition of David Anthony Warren, 4/7/20, at 59:3-12.

Although Brown and Clay testified that they did not specifically remember Decedent from their time aboard the U.S.S. Dahlgren, Brown recalled Crane valves in the firerooms of the Dahlgren and Clay remembered seeing “quite a few” Warren pumps in the boiler rooms onboard the ship.

Appellant also offered a naval expert report, authored by Captain Arnold Moore, indicating that Warren provided asbestos-containing replacement parts for the pumps on overhauls of Navy ships, although the report did not include any specific information regarding the replacement or overhaul of pumps on the U.S.S. Dahlgren.

Crane and Warren filed motions for summary judgment alleging Appellant had not produced sufficient evidence to establish that Decedent was exposed to asbestos-containing products linked to their companies or that

such exposure was sufficient to cause Decedent’s mesothelioma. Specifically, Defendants argued that none of the testimony of Decedent’s former Navy co- workers, who were offered as fact witnesses, established that they ever saw the Decedent work on a Warren pump or Crane valve or saw anyone work on a Warren pump or Crane valve in the vicinity of Decedent. See Warren Pump Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment, 8/25/21, at I; Crane Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment, 8/24/21, at I. Defendants noted that while Clay and Brown testified about the duties of a fireman and fireman apprentice (specifically repair work done to valves and pumps in the firerooms) on the U.S.S. Dahlgren during the time Decedent served on the vessel, and that they recalled that some Crane valves and Warren pumps were used on the U.S.S. Dahlgren,6 neither Clay nor Brown specifically remembered Decedent or recalled serving with him on the U.S.S. Dahlgren.

On March 7, 2022, and March 8, 2022, the trial court granted Defendants’ motions, concluding that “[t]here are no genuine issues of material fact in this case because [Appellant] solely relies on speculative evidence . . . [that would] “require a jury to improperly speculate as to whether [Decedent] actually performed the tasks described by his coworkers, e.g., replacing the insulant in valves and pumps.” Trial Court Opinion, 7/5/22,

at 4. On April 26, 2022, the case settled with regard to all remaining non- bankrupt parties.7 On May 19, 2022, Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal and court-

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