Jones v. Lincoln Electric Co
| Decision Date | 19 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 96-1376,98-1487,97-1938,s. 96-1376 |
| Citation | 188 F.3d 709 |
| Parties | (7th Cir. 1999) Terry Jones, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Lincoln Electric Co., Hobart Brothers Inc., Westinghouse Electric Corp., Airco/The BOC Group, Inc., and Teledyne Industries, Inc., Defendants-Appellees, and Dr. Thomas W. Eager, Respondent-Appellee |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. No. 95 C 83--Rudy Lozano, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Cummings,* Bauer, and Kanne, Circuit Judges.
We have consolidated for decision three appeals arising from Terry Jones's product liability suit against Hobart Brothers Company, Lincoln Electric Company, Airco/The BOC Group, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Inco Alloys International, Incorporated, and Teledyne, Incorporated, (collectively, "Defendants"), all of whom are various manufacturers and distributors of welding rods. Jones sought to hold Defendants liable for neurological injuries he allegedly sustained as a result of his exposure to manganese present in fumes emitted from Defendants' welding rods that he used during the course of his employment as a welder. Jones claimed that Defendants were negligent in the manufacture and distribution of the welding rods because they either knew or should have known of the dangers and hazards associated with the breathing of manganese in welding fumes and that Defendants failed to take reasonable precautions against and failed to provide adequate warnings of the potential harm posed by these fumes. Jones also claimed that Defendants' welding rods were unreasonably dangerous, and therefore Defendants were strictly liable for his injuries, because they failed to properly warn him of the risks associated with the use of their rods.
Defendants denied that Jones's neurological condition was caused by his exposure to welding rod fumes, maintaining instead that Jones suffered from idiopathic Parkinson's disease--a disease unrelated to manganese overexposure. Defendants also denied the remaining allegations made by Jones. The case was tried to a jury and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Defendants and against Jones on all counts.1
Jones filed a timely motion for a new trial under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, which the district court denied. Jones then filed his first appeal from the final judgment entered in favor of Defendants. In this first appeal, Jones argues that the district court erred in admitting certain testimony from Dr. Thomas W. Eager, one of Defendants' expert witnesses, and erred in overruling objections to allegedly improper statements made by defense counsel during his closing argument.
A little more than eleven months after the jury verdict, and while Jones's first appeal was still pending, Jones filed two additional post-trial motions: a motion for relief from final judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(2); and a motion for rule to show cause why Dr. Thomas W. Eager should not be held in contempt of court. Both motions were based on "newly discovered" evidence that allegedly showed that Dr. Eager provided false testimony at trial. The district court denied both of these motions. Jones's second and third appeals are from those orders.
For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the orders and decisions of the district court.
Terry Jones worked as a journeyman electrician and welder for approximately twenty-eight years, beginning in 1964 and ending in 1992, when his neurological disorder progressed to the point that he could no longer effectively weld. Over the course of his welding career, Jones worked for a number of companies at several different job sites, with most of his work taking place inside large steel mills. Jones estimated that, on average, he spent half of his work day performing electrical tasks and the other half welding.
Jones welded using a method commonly known as "arc welding." This process of welding utilizes a consumable steel welding rod connected through a rod holder by a wire to one pole of an electric power supply. Another wire extends from the opposite pole of the power supply to the two pieces of the base metal to be welded together. When the welding rod is brought into contact with the intersection of the two pieces of metal to be joined, the electrical circuit is completed creating an electric "arc" between the tip of the welding rod and the pieces of metal. The electricity flows through the arc producing the very bright light commonly associated with welding and generating tremendous heat sufficient to melt the tip of the steel welding rod. The melting metal from the welding rod drips off the end of the rod and falls into or across the joint to be welded. At the same time, the heat generated by the arc melts some of the base metal of the area of joint as well, forming a pool of liquid steel. As the welder moves the welding rod along the joint, the earlier combination of weld metal and base metal cools and solidifies, leaving a weld.
Throughout his welding career, Jones used welding rods manufactured and or distributed by Defendants. The welding rods typically used by Jones were made of mild steel, which consists predominantly of iron, but also contains a small amount of manganese, among other elements and compounds. Manganese is a naturally occurring element and is an essential ingredient to the proper manufacture of steel because it prevents steel from cracking and falling apart when it is manufactured.
When the welding process melts both the welding rod and the base metal, the heat of the arc vaporizes a small percentage of the steel and emits "welding fumes." A small amount of the fumes generated by the burning of a mild steel welding rod consists of manganese. Although Jones worked primarily in large steel mills, he welded in a variety of different work environments and in a number of different welding positions that exposed him to varying amounts of welding fumes, with the end result being that he was frequently forced to breathe the fumes, which included manganese, produced by Defendants' welding rods. Although Jones testified that during many of his welding projects a significant amount of welding fumes would tend to accumulate and hover about his head, he indicated that he ordinarily did not take any special precautions to ventilate his work area as he assumed that the ventilation was adequate.
Manganese is not only critical to the production of steel, but it is also essential for human life. The human body needs a certain amount of manganese in order to function properly especially in relation to carrying out its chemical functions. Too much manganese within the body, however, can be toxic, causing injury to the brain or the rest of the nervous system and can lead to the onset of a form of Parkinsonism. Parkinsonism is a medical term used to describe a disease typified by a group of signs and symptoms similar to that seen in Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that is characterized by the causing of abnormal or slow bodily movements. According to the medical testimony introduced at trial, a person suffering from a form of Parkinsonism will typically exhibit some or all of four general symptoms that are common to Parkinson's disease. The first symptom is a resting tremor, meaning an abnormal shaking movement of a person's body part while the person is at rest. The second symptom is rigidity, meaning a stiffness or resistance to movement in the limbs. When a physician tries to move the patient's arms or legs, the physician can feel a resistance to the movement. The third symptom is called bradykinesia or slowness of movement. A patient will experience slowness or difficulty in carrying out and initiating all kinds of movements. The fourth symptom usually common to Parkinsonism is a difficulty in maintaining one's balance or the loss of postural reflexes.
Although there are several different forms or types of Parkinsonism, the two types relevant to this case are idiopathic Parkinson's disease and manganese-induced Parkinsonism or "manganism." Although occasionally described at trial as a type of Parkinsonism, idiopathic Parkinson's disease is basically Parkinson's disease without a known cause. A person suffering from this disease will exhibit most, if not all, of the general Parkinsonian symptoms described above as the disease progresses. Manganism, by contrast, is a medical term used to describe a neurological disease similar to idiopathic Parkinson's disease that is caused by overexposure to manganese. The two are distinct medical conditions with manganism usually marked by the absence of some of the above-mentioned general symptoms and the presence of other "atypical" features normally not found in patients suffering from idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Idiopathic Parkinson's disease afflicts approximately one to two percent of the population over the age of fifty, although some patients begin to develop the disease under fifty years of age. Manganism, on the other hand, is quite rare with only a few documented cases in the United States. Jones believes that he suffers from manganism and that he developed this disease through his exposure to manganese contained in welding fumes given off by Defendants' welding rods.
Jones first began to manifest symptoms of a neurological injury in 1987, when, at the age of forty-seven, he noticed that his left hand had begun to shake involuntarily. Soon thereafter, Jones went to see a neurologist, Dr. Young Il Ro, who operated a private medical practice in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Jones specifically complained to Dr. Ro that he was experiencing a tremor and a loss of dexterity in his left hand and that he...
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