Lawsuit Over Exposure to Welding Rod Fumes is Settled for More Than $1 Million

In early September 2005 a Mississippi shipyard worker who claimed his neurological problems were caused by inhaling fumes from welding rods concluded his lawsuit by settling with the final two welding company defendants in his case. The worker’s lawsuit against those two welding manufacturers was scheduled to go to trial the following week. The last two settling defendants were Hobart Brothers Co., based in Ohio, and ESAB Group Inc., based in England. Both companies made welding products that were used by this particular worker in Mississippi.

The Mississippi shipyard worker who settled his lawsuit in September worked as a welder at Ingalls Shipyard, in Pascagoula, MS for three years, beginning in 1997. Within two years of starting welding there, this welder began having various physical problems such as shakes, loss of balance, and speech difficulties. The welder’s lawyers said they were prepared to show at trial that doctors at Baylor Medical Center, in Houston, had determined that the neurological problems diagnosed in this welder were caused by welding fumes. Defense lawyers for the welding companies denied that the shipyard worker’s physical conditions were related to his inhaling welding fumes.

In his lawsuit, this worker alleged that the welding companies did not do enough to warn him, and others like him, about the neurological disorders which can be caused by the manganese fumes emitted during the welding process.

Published reports put the settlement amount in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million.

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