Defendants last week secured another jury verdict in the federal welding rod MDL trials. Byers v. Lincoln Electric Co.,et al., N.D. Ohio, No. 04-17033. A jury delivered a verdict in favor of three rod manufacturers, finding they offered adequate warnings to an Alabama welder about potential negative health effects associated with working with their products.

The federal cases in the welding rod litigation are part of an MDL. In re Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation, MDL-1535 (N.D. Ohio). Although plaintiffs secured a significant verdict last December in the Tamraz case (currently on appeal), it was the first plaintiff victory in several years, and juries have found for defendants now, by our count, in 21 of the last 24 plaintiffs’ cases tried in this litigation, including consolidated cases that are heavily weighted toward plaintiffs and cases in jurisdictions that are considered plaintiff-friendly. Indeed, plaintiffs have moved to voluntarily dismiss more than 4,000 cases in the MDL. The total number of cases pending against the welding defendants has dropped by over two-thirds.

In the latest trial, Eddie Byers and spouse alleged his long-term exposure to manganese fumes released during the welding process caused him to suffer neurological problems in the form of a Parkinson’s type disease. Plaintiffs claimed that the welding rod manufacturers should be held liable for allegedly failing to warn welders about the harms posed by manganese releases. Defendants, however, presented evidence showing that numerous warnings about the dangers of working around welding rods were given in Material Safety Data Sheets and other documents over the three decades that Eddie Byers worked as a welder.

Some see the jury’s decision as an affirmation of what the industry has been saying all along—there is no scientifically proven link between welding rod exposure and neurological problems. But the fact that the jury found that the defendants did not distribute a product with a marketing defect seems as significant to MassTortDefense. In toxic tort litigation, juries can be helped to understand the potentially hazardous nature of chemicals or products which help provide important societal and economic benefits. If the information shared about the products addresses the potential risks, the defense is a long way towards home.