FLORIDA — The plaintiff’s Decedent Richard Doolin was diagnosed with mesothelioma in June of 2013 and passed away as a result on June 22, 2014. The plaintiff Stacey Doolin filed suit against multiple companies, alleging that Richard was exposed to asbestos when visiting his father’s automotive workshop as a child. The plaintiff further alleged that Richard did shadetree automotive work throughout his life that also exposed him to asbestos. The last remaining defendants were Ford Motor Company (Ford) and Pneumo Abex LLC (Abex).
Ford and Abex filed several Daubert motions seeking to exclude the testimony of various experts, as well as motions for summary judgment. The court first determined that the dispositive issue in the case “is that of causation.” The defendants filed motions to exclude the opinions of plaintiffs’ causation experts, Arnold R. Brody, Ph.D., and Richard L. Kradin, M.D., D.T.M. & H.. After considering the record and the arguments of the parties, the court held that the expert testimony on specific causation lacked reliability under Daubert, and therefore they were excluded.
The court then turned to the motions for summary judgment of defendants. In light of the conclusion that plaintiffs’ experts on causation were excluded, and given the absence of any reliable testimony on the issue of specific causation, the Court held that Plaintiff failed to demonstrate an issue of material fact on causation, and therefore, summary judgment was ordered in favor of Ford and Abex.
Read the full case decision here.