HOUSTON - On Tuesday, the 14th Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment win in favor of Howmet Aerospace, a defendant in an asbestos suit alleging a woman was exposed to asbestos fibers from her husband’s work clothes.
The asbestos suit was brought by the surviving husband and children of Carolyn Burford and asserted wrongful death and survival claims against the husband’s former employer, Howmet Aerospace, formerly known as Alcoa.
The plaintiffs alleged that Carolyn Burford died of asbestosis, caused by her inhalation of asbestos fibers from Alcoa’s facility in Rockdale that her husband brought home on his work clothes.
Court records show the trial court granted Alcoa’s no-evidence summary-judgment motion, concluding that there is no evidence of substantial-factor causation.
The 14th Court reversed the ruling and remanded the case, finding that the plaintiffs presented direct, scientifically reliable proof of causation.
“The Burford Parties (the plaintiffs) presented reliable expert testimony that Carolyn’s exposure to asbestos is the only possible cause of her asbestosis,” the opinion states.
“Thus, we conclude that through direct, scientifically reliable proof of causation, the summary-judgment evidence raises a genuine fact issue as to whether asbestos from Alcoa was a substantial factor in causing Carolyn’s asbestosis and death.”
The plaintiffs are represented in part by Durham, Pittard & Spalding.
Appeals case No. 14-22-00417-CV