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Daniel R. Benson, Andrew A. Davenport, Jack Atkin, James W. Bartlett, Jr., David J. Abrams, Howard L. Bressler


On May 21, 2009, summary judgment motions brought by all the remaining defendants were denied in an action in Alabama circuit court, Tuscaloosa County, in which KBT&F represents over 1,300 Alabama coal miners suffering permanent respiratory injuries as a result of their exposure to isocyanate-based products used in the mines.  The defendants, which include Dow, BASF and Bayer, are manufacturers, suppliers and/or distributors of these products.  Plaintiffs have claimed that defendants failed to warn of their products' hazards, and engaged in an industry-wide conspiracy extending over several decades to conceal and misrepresent those hazards to the mine owners, the miners' union, government regulators and the miners themselves.  After hundreds of pages of briefing and summary judgment hearings that extended over nine days, the court found triable issues of fact as to almost all of plaintiffs' claims, including their claims for fraud.  The KBT&F team is led by partners Dan Benson, Andrew Davenport, Jack Atkin, David Abrams and James Bartlett and special counsel Howard Bressler, and Donald W. Stewart is Alabama-based counsel, with whom KBT&F has long worked closely.