After his wife, Elaine, died from malignant mesothelioma, Joseph Raymond Steib, Sr., filed a lawsuit against Huntington Ingalls Incorporated, seeking justice and compensation for her death, which he believed was caused by asbestos exposure from his work at the Avondale Shipyards. When the company attempted to claim federal immunity protections and remove the case to federal court, the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana denied the shipyard’s immunity argument, while allowing the case to remain in federal jurisdiction.
Mesothelioma Victim’s Husband Challenges Shipyard’s Federal Defenses
Mrs. Steib’s mesothelioma was blamed on the decades she’d spent laundering the clothes her husband wore to and from work at Avondale Shipyards, where he’d been employed from 1968 to 2011. The widower’s lawsuit alleges that the shipyard negligently failed to warn him, his coworkers, or his wife about the dangers of secondary exposure to the hazardous asbestos dust, despite knowing the risks.
In response to the mesothelioma lawsuit, Avondale removed the case to federal court, asserting immunity defenses under both the Boyle government contractor doctrine and Yearsley derivative sovereign immunity. The company argued it was entitled to these protections because it had been required to install and use asbestos-containing products by federal contractual provisions and design specifications mandated by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Maritime Administration.
Federal Court Denies Mesothelioma Defendant’s Immunity Claims
Mesothelioma cases against Avondale have consistently resulted in courts rejecting the company’s immunity arguments, and it happened again in this case. While the court allowed the case to remain in federal jurisdiction under the federal officer removal statute, it granted Mr. Steib’s motion for partial summary judgment against Avondale’s government immunity defenses.
The court noted that Avondale has repeatedly asserted nearly identical arguments in previous asbestos failure-to-warn cases, all of which have been uniformly rejected. The justices found that the federal government had no involvement in directing warnings about asbestos dust exposure at the Avondale Shipyards, leading to the company’s immunity defenses being ruled inapplicable to failure-to-warn claims. The court’s decision allows Mr. Steib’s mesothelioma lawsuit to proceed for a jury to decide.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net are here to help. For more information, contact us today at 1-800-692-8608.
