Plaintiffs, Respirator Defendants Spar over Standing to Sue, Remoteness in W.Va. Suit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Challenges to a lawsuit filed against three respirator companies for reimbursement of funds the state has paid West Virginia miners who developed silica-related lung diseases caused should be dismissed as nothing more than a red herring, the plaintiff said recently in response to a motion to dismiss the case. State of West Virginia ex rel. Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General v. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, et al., No. 03-2161 (S.D. W.Va.).

According to a brief filed Feb. 27 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the defendants, who in January asserted …