Court Awards Summary Judgment, Rules Claims Barred by Workers' Comp Statutes

NEW YORK -- A federal court has awarded summary judgment to a benzene plaintiff's employer, ruling that the plaintiff's claims were precluded by his filing of a workers' compensation claim. Reed v. Paramount Wire Co., Inc., et al., No. 04-8059 (S.D. N.Y.).

The June 21 order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York also opined that plaintiff Jerry Reed's claims were barred by the statute of limitations.

Reed claims that his work as a machine operator in the wire drawing industry exposed him to benzene, which he used to clean and degrease machines. Reed …