Products Liability Law Reporter

Herbert Gilliam was employed at Rockwell International in Russellville, Ky., from about 1956 to 1997. In 2020, he was diagnosed as having malignant mesothelioma and died of his disease approximately two months later.

Gilliam’s wife, individually and on behalf of his estate, filed suit against heating equipment manufacturer Ajax Tocco Magnethermic Corp., which allegedly had distributed and sold asbestos-containing products to which Gilliam had been exposed during his long career at Rockwell International. Suit alleged strict liability design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure to warn; negligence and negligent failure to warn; wrongful death; and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant had failed to exercise reasonable care to protect Gilliam from the latent dangers of asbestos exposure and failed to warn him about the dangers of breathing in dust and fibers released from the defendant’s products.

The parties reached an undisclosed settlement.

Citation: Gilliam v. Ajax Tocco Magnethermic Corp., No. 1:21-cv-33-GNS (W.D. Ky. Mar. 22, 2022).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Paul J. Kelley, Joseph D. Satterley, Paul J. Ivie, and James G. Cambron, all of Louisville, Ky.; and AAJ member J. Eric Kiser, Cincinnati.