GALVESTON – A Bacliff woman claims the Union Carbide Corporation and two other entities may have had a hand in her husband's death from asbestos exposure, recent court documents say.
Peggy Dobbs says Union Carbide, Foster Wheeler Corporation, and Ingersoll-Rand Company "have been engaged in the processing and/or manufacturing, sale, and distribution of asbestos and asbestos-containing products" that caused DeVaughn Chumbley Dobbs to develop and subsequently perish from mesothelioma, a form of pulmonary cancer.
Foster Wheeler and Ingersoll-Rand are named product defendants while Union Carbide is tagged a premise and product defendant.
According to her lawsuit, DeVaughn Chumbley Dobbs experienced reportedly unsafe working conditions "at job sites in and around Texas and other states" during his lengthy stint as a journeyman laborer.
"Decedent's representative would show that for many years, decedent worked with and/or was exposed to asbestos-containing products while working in various residential and commercial construction and/or remodeling sites," explains the suit, which was filed before Galveston County District Court on Oct. 22. "Decedent's representative would show that decedent was exposed, on numerous occasions, to asbestos-containing products produced, installed, and/or sold by defendants and, in so doing, had inhaled great quantities of asbestos fibers."
The suit further states "decedent was directed and controlled in all health and safety matters in whole or in part by the owners and operators of the premises."
"All premise and employer defendants conspired with their fellows and through their trade associations and insurers to suppress the information being developed and disseminated internally by dedicated physicians and industrial hygienists and safety engineers," it says.
Eight counts of wrongdoing went against the defendants, emphasizing that negligence brought on DeVaughn Chumbley Dobbs's illness, disability, and death.
His estate, represented by attorneys Javier Gonzalez and Scott W. Wert of Foster and Sear LLP in Arlington, seeks damages for pain and suffering, impairment, and mental anguish.
The case has been assigned to 405th District Court Judge Wayne Mallia.
Case No. 08CV1065