King, Krebs & Jurgens Successfully Defends U.S. Navy in Toxic Exposure Case
January 17, 2012In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Henry King and Michael Vincenzo were successful in obtaining a dismissal of all of Plaintiff's claims in a maritime tort action alleging toxic exposure.
The United States was sued for personal injuries sustained by a merchant mariner who suffered acute liver failure shortly after working aboard a Military Sealift Command vessel. The plaintiff-seaman, who required a liver transplant, claimed that his illness was triggered by the inhalation of fumes from paint he worked with while aboard the vessel. The United States moved to have plaintiff's causation experts (a toxicologist, liver transplant surgeon and hepatologist) barred from testifying on the grounds that their opinions did not meet the minimum threshold for admissibility under applicable federal law. The Court granted the United States' motions, finding that none of the experts was able to establish that the chemicals involved (paints widely used by the US Navy in the maintenance of its fleet) were capable of causing acute liver failure. Having stricken these witnesses, the Court went on to dismiss all of Plaintiff's claims, due to a lack of proof supporting his case.
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Leake v. U.S. Order and Reasons
