Silica Supplier Names Plaintiff's Employers as 3rd party Defendants in N.Y. Lawsuit

Unimin Corp. has impleaded a silica plaintiff's former employer and that firm's parent company into a personal injury lawsuit, seeking indemnification in a third-party complaint filed in New York state court in December. Irwin, et ux. v. Alcoa Inc., et al., No.33-09-0799 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Onondaga Cty.).

Unimin asserted the third-party claims Dec. 14 against plaintiff Mark Irwin's longtime employer, Syracuse China Co., and Libbey Inc., which acquired Syracuse China in 1995.

Irwin alleges in a lawsuit filed in Onondaga County (N.Y.) Supreme Court on April 20, 2009, that he was exposed to silica while working at the ceramics maker …