Rothermel v. Owen Illinois Inc.

16 Pa. D. & C.4th 20, 1992 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 182
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County
DecidedJuly 8, 1992
Docketno. 1464
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 16 Pa. D. & C.4th 20 (Rothermel v. Owen Illinois Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rothermel v. Owen Illinois Inc., 16 Pa. D. & C.4th 20, 1992 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 182 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1992).

Opinion

KLEIN, J.,

Leland E. Rothermel developed asbestosis and lung cancer and died of a heart attack on October 7, 1988. The defense conceded that asbestos exposure was a substantial contributing factor to his lung cancer. Plaintiff’s expert physician opined that the lung cancer was a substantial contributing factor to Mr. Rothermel’s fatal heart attack.

The non-settling defendants raise three arguments in their post-verdict motions:

(1) They complain that the court erred in failing to reduce the verdict to 49 percent of what the jury found, since the court did allow the jury to make an apportionment of causation between cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure on a special interrogatory. The court took the [21]*21position that: (a) cancer is a single disease and there was not sufficient medical testimony to support an allocation; and (b) even if an allocation was to be made, the cigarette companies were not joined, there was no evidence of contributory negligence, and the asbestos defendants are liable for the full verdict under these circumstances. If they wish, they can file a contribution action against the cigarette manufacturers after they pay the verdict.

(2) The defendants differ as to whether each defendant should pay an equal share or the respective liability should be based on the jury’s allocation among defendants. The jury allocation was based on Mr. Rothermel’s testimony regarding differing exposure to the various products. The court initially held that under Walton v. Avco Corp., 383 Pa. Super. 518, 544-47, 557 A.2d 372, 386-87 (1989), Pennsylvania law requires an equitable apportionment of respective fault among multiple defendants found strictly liable to the plaintiff. Since Walton has been reversed on this point by the Supreme Court, 530 Pa. 568, 610 A.2d 454 (1992), the verdict will be molded to reflect 20 percent liability for each of the five tortfeasors found responsible.

(3) The defendants claim a verdict of $250,000 for Mr. Rothermel and $40,000 for loss of consortium is excessive and a remittitur should be granted or a new trial granted on this basis. Considering that Mr. Rothermel first had asbestosis, then developed lung cancer, and finally died when the lung cancer contributed to a heart attack, this verdict does not shock the conscience. If anything, it is on the low side, considering the injuries.

[22]*22(4) With respect to delay damages, delay damages cannot run against the Manville Trust, since the Bankruptcy Act supersedes the state law. The non-settled defendants are only liable for damages on their share of the verdict. The new delay damage rule is constitutional, and the time is not tolled because of administrative delay occasioned by the backlog.

Defendant Manville Corp. Asbestos Disease Compensation Fund originally raised numerous other objections in its initial motions, but did not brief them and stated at oral argument that it was not pursuing them.

A detailed discussion follows.

I. APPORTIONMENT AND VERDICT REDUCTION

There was no basis to apportion the lung cancer between cigarette smoking and asbestos, and even if there were, this would not reduce the verdict since there was no evidence of contributory negligence and the cigarette companies were not joined.

A. There was insufficient medical testimony to apportion the lung cancer between cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure.

The trial court must determine, as a matter of law, whether the harm is capable of apportionment. Voyles v. Corwin, 295 Pa. Super 126, 130-31, 441 A.2d 381, 383 (1982). In Martin v. Owens Corning Fiberglas, 515 Pa. 377, 381-85, 528 A.2d 947, 949-50 (1987), the Supreme Court rejected the Superior Court decision to allow apportionment when the jury could make a “rough approximation” of the allocation, saying, ‘“Rough ap[23]*23proximation’ is no substitute for justice.” The Supreme Court pointed out that the burden of proving apportionment rests on the party seeking it, and the harm must be capable of apportionment. The court noted that there was a single harm, disability due to diminished lung function.

There is even less of a basis to make an apportionment in a lung cancer case than there is in a case where a plaintiff suffers from non-malignant asbestosis and cigarette caused emphysema or chronic bronchitis. Although they have an additive effect, asbestos exposure causes asbestosis, which is a restrictive disease; and cigarette smoking, causes emphysema or bronchitis, which are obstructive diseases. They are separate diseases and can be measured separately.

However, lung cancer is one, single, indivisible disease, although two processes (cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure) have a multiple effect in increasing risk. Certain kinds of harm, by their very nature, are normally incapable of any logical, reasonable or practical division. Restatement (Second) of Torts §433A(2) comment (i); Corbett v. Weisband, 380 Pa. Super. 292, 325-26, 551 A.2d 1059, 1076 (1988), appeal denied, 524 Pa. 607, 569 A.2d 1367 (1989), appeal denied sub nom. Corbett v. DeMoura, 524 Pa. 620, 571 A.2d 383 (1989), and Petition of DeMoura, 524 Pa. 620, 571 A.2d 383 (1989). No one yet knows how cancer is caused or why the combination of asbestos exposure and cigarette smoking increases the risk of lung cancer 50 times, far more than adding the two risks together. Since it is impossible, except upon a purely arbitrary basis for the purpose of accomplishing the result, to say that one factor caused [24]*24a certain percentage and another the rest, lung cancer is such a harm incapable of apportionment. The jury cannot be expected to draw conclusions which medical experts, relying on the same evidence, could not draw. Martin at 383-85, 528 A.2d at 950. It is a leap of faith to say that because cigarette smoking increases the risk of lung cancer ten fold and asbestos exposure five fold there should be a 2-1 allocation between the two. That is neither medically nor legally sound.

The medical testimony adds little to this scenario. Plaintiff’s expert Dr. Stoloff said that it is hard to apportion two significant contributing factors in a synergistic disease. However, he noted that the cigarette smoking was less of a factor because Mr. Rothermel had cut down on his smoking prior to the cancer. The defense expert, Dr. Rodman, did not dispute the medical facts but merely referred to the relative statistical risks depending on whether someone smoked or not and whether someone was exposed to asbestos or not. He did not make a medical distinction, but said, “[apportionment appears to be more of a legal than a medical concept.” Dr. Rod-man, N.T. June 6,1990, p.68. Since no one knows what causes lung cancer, to allow the jury to consider this question would require pure conjecture. A jury may not award damages based on speculation or conjecture. Rice v. Hill, 315 Pa. 166, 173, 172 A. 289, 291-92 (1934).

Defendants rely on Parker v. Bell Asbestos Mines, No.

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Related

Sopko v. Murray
947 A.2d 1256 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Parrish
58 S.W.3d 467 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Pa. D. & C.4th 20, 1992 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rothermel-v-owen-illinois-inc-pactcompllehigh-1992.