Pa. Court Affirms Ruling on Causation, Cites Plumber’s Vague Evidence of Dust Exposure

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania appeals court has affirmed awards of summary judgment to three asbestos defendants, agreeing that a former journeyman plumber failed to provide sufficient evidence of exposure that met the state’s frequency, regularity and proximity test for asbestos claims. Fisher v. J.A. Sexauer, et al., No. 2486 EDA 2010 (Pa. Super. Ct.).

The state Superior Court ruled May 29 that plaintiff Sidney Fisher’s exposure testimony prior to his death from small-cell carcinoma in 2006 was substantially speculative and failed to establish the requisite threshold for causation that was established under Eckenrod v. GAF Corp., 544 A.2d 50 (Pa.Super.1988).