3M Says Plaintiff's Diagnosis Unreliable, As Expert Retracts Testimony

OAKLAND, Calif. - Experts scheduled to testify on behalf of a former Naval mechanic and sandblaster cannot show that his alleged lung injury is related to anything other than his more than 40-year smoking history, a defendant has argued in a brief filed recently in California. McClarty v. Lone Star Industries, et al., No. RG-05210545 (Calif. Super. Ct., Alameda Cty.).

3M says in a trial brief filed Nov. 20 in Alameda County Superior Court that plaintiff Eugene McClarty suffers from smoking-related lung cancer, not pneumoconiosis caused by occupational exposure to asbestos and silica, as McClarty alleges. One of the experts …