Court Dismisses Silica Claims for Lack of Compensable Injury, Discovery Responses

PHILADELPHIA -- The claims of nearly a dozen silica plaintiffs in Pennsylvania have been dismissed for reasons ranging from lack of compensable injury to failure to comply with discovery orders and product identification. In Re: Silicosis Litigation, No. March 2003-00001 (Pa. Ct. Comm. Pls., Philadelphia Cty.).

The dismissals were signed in July by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Norman Ackerman in 17 of the nearly 100 cases centralized in the court's consolidated silica docket. The majority of cases pending in Philadelphia County were filed by employees at Grinnell Foundry who allege injury as a result of silica exposure at …