Document 3n91eZdK1xwbBd36bVv58JNJ

FILE NAME: Kent (KNT) DATE: 1991 Apr 16 DOC#: KNT018 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Deposition of Elise Comproni 2 4 0 35 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 2 ) 3 PETER AND ANGELA IERARDI, ) 4 VS. Plaintiffs, ) ) ) C.A. NO:90-7049 5 ) LORILLARD. INC., ET A L ., ) 6 Defendants. ) __________________________________________________________ ) 7 8 9 DEPOSITION OF ELI$E C O M P R O N I , 10 a witness called on behalf of the Plaintiffs, 11 taken pursuant to the provisions of the 1 2 Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure, before 1 3 Teresa Sciaba, a Notary Public and Registered 1 4 Professional Reporter in and for the Commonwealth 1 5 of Massachusetts, at the offices of Nutter, 16 McClennen & Fish, One International Place, 17 Boston, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, April 16, 18 1991, commencing at 10:25 a.m. 19 20 21 22 DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. Professional Shorthand Reporters 23 59 Temple Place 24 Boston, Massachusetts 02111 (617) 542-0039 EXh^ii AA DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 2406 4 1 PROCEEDINGS 2 Elise Comproni, having first been 3 duly sworn, testified as follows in answer to 4 direct interrogatories by Mr. Johnson: 5 0 . M r . Comproni, good morning. 6 A . Good morning. 7 Q M r . C o m p r o n i , we 1ve met b e f o r e . My name 8 is Tom Johnson, I represent Peter and Angela 9 lerardi in the case t h a t 's pending in the Eastern 10 District of Pennsylvania, the defendants being 1 1 Lorillard and Hollingsworth & V o s e . W e 're here 1 2 to take your deposition. 1 3 Now, Mr. Comproni, could you please give 1 4 me your full name and spell your last name for 1 5 the record? 16 A. It's Elise Comproni, E-L-I-S-E, and the 1 7 last name is C - O - M-P -R -O- N- I. 18 Q. And what is your business address? 19 A. It's 150 Tremont Street, Boston. 20 Q. And by whom are you employed? 21 A. By the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the 22 Department of Public Health. 23 q. May I ask you, sir, how long have you 24 been employed by the Commonwealth of DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 2407 5 1 Massachusetts? 2 A. 39 years and app rox im at ely 6 months. 3 Q. What year did you start with the 4 Commonwealth of Mass.? 5 A. 1951 and the month of October. 6 Q. And what department were you in when you 7 first started with the Commonwealth of 8 Massachusetts? 9 A. My first job with the Commonwealth was in 10 the Department of Labor and Industries, the 11 Division of Occupational Hygiene. 1 2 Q. And how long were you with the Department 13 of Labor and Industries and Occupational Hygiene? 1 4 A. Until May of 1968, some 16 years. 1 5 Q. And what positions did you hold with the 1 6 Department of Occupational Hygiene? 1 7 A. I started as an engineering aid and 1 8 became an industrial hygienist and from there an 1 9 industrial hygiene engineer. 20 Q. And after you left Occupational Health, 21 what did you move onto at that point? 22 A. I left the Division of Occupational 23 Hygiene and went to the department -- 24 Massachusetts Department of Public Health. DORIS M. JONES fi A S S O C I A T E S , INC. 2408 6 1 Q. What sort of work did you do for them? 2 A. I set up the air sampling network for the 3 Division of Air Pollution Control in the 4 Department of Public Health. 5 Q. And how long were you with the Department 6 of Public Health? 7 A. I worked for Public Health for 8 app rox imately four or five years until such time 9 as the Department of Environmental Protection was 10 formed, and being in the air division, that 1 1 division was moved into the Department of 12 Environmental Protection. So I worked in that 1 3 department for approximately ten years. 1 4 Q. And your work in that area was air 1 5 sampling and air pollution? 1 6 A. Yes, we 'set up the Division of Air 17 Pollution Control. 18 Q. And what was your next pos ition with the 19 Commonwealth? 20 A. Well, I left DEP, came back to the 2 1 Department of Public Health in 1978 and I've been 22 employed in the Department of Public Health again 2 3 since that time. 24 Q. In what areas -- what were your areas of DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 24u 9 7 1 concern? 2 A. My title was Chief of Environmental 3 Hygiene, Department of Public Health. 4 Q. And is that your current position? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. May i ask what your date of birth is? 7 A. May 25th, 1927. 8 Q. Now, getting backto your first position 9 with Occupational Health, what training did you 1 O have to qualify you for your initial position 1 1 with the Department of Occupational Health? 1 2 A. Well, I have a bachelor's degree in 1 3 edu cation and math and science. When I came to 2 4 work for the department I spent approximately six : 5 months in training in air sampling and in 1 6 ventilation control. 17 Q. And did you have an immediatesupervisor 18 during your early years with the Department of 19 Occupational Health? 20 A . Yes, yes. 2 1 Q . Who was that? 22 A. I worked for a gentleman named Harold 23 Bavley who was the chief engineer. 24 Q. And directing your attention to the early DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 24J 0 e 1 1950s, did you have occasion as part of your 2 duties in the Department of Occupational Health 3 to visit factories and other industrial sites? 4 A. Yes, that was ourprimaryresponsibility, 5 to evaluate health hazards in industrial plants. 6 Q. Did that responsibility cause you to 7 visit a plant known as H & V Specialties? 8 MR. BRAKE: Objection to the form. 9 A. Yes, it did. 10 Q. And did you make one visit or more than 1 1 one visit? 1 2 A. I made severalvisits totheir plant in 1 3 West Groton, Massachusetts. 1 4 Q. Do you have in front of you certain 1 5 reports that emanated from your department during 1 6 those years? 1 7 A. Yes. 18 Q. Could you Identify for the record the 19 dates of the reports that reflect your visits to 20 the Hollingsworth -- the H & V Specialties plant? 21 A. Well, the first visit was on October 22 27th, 1952 jointly with Harold Bavley. I also 23 went there on April 15th, 1953 with Harold 24 Bavley. I was there on June llth, 1953 with 2411 9 1 Harold Bavley. I was there on January 27th, 1954 2 with Harold Bavley, and also on May 21st, 1954 3 with Harold Bavley. 4 MR. BRAKE: Mr. Comproni, the 5 documents you've just looked at, are those 6 documents from your files or were they provided 7 to you by the plaintiffs in this case? 8 THE WITNESS: These documents were 9 from the files of the Division of Occupational 10 Hygiene. I also asked the legal firm of Johnson 1 1 & Childs to provide me with copies of my 12 documents as well, since they had copies made for 13 themselves. 1 4 MR. BRAKE: But did you separately 1 5 obtain documents from the division? 16 THE WITNESS: These particular ones 17 came from Johnson & Childs. 1 B MR. M c E L A N E Y : Off the record. 19 (Off-the-record discussion.) 20 MR. JOHNSON: By the dates of the 2 1 visits I think you'll see, Andy, that there's a 22 date of a visit and there's a date of a report. 23 T h e r e 's usually a day or two difference between 24 them. So I'll give you the dates of the visits. DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. u ti 1 Q. At that point in tine back in the 1950s, 2 what diseases were you concerned about with 3 respect to asbestos exposure? 4 A. Asbestosis and lung cancer were known 5 effects from exposure to asbestos. Subsequently 6 I believe mesothelioma was considered -- the only 7 cause of mesothelioma was exposure to asbestos 8 dus t . 9 MR. COFER: Objection. Move to 10 strike, non-responsive to the question and beyond 11 this witness's expertise. 12 i 1 3 Q. And in the course did you have the knowledge -- how did you acquire your information 14 about asbestosis and lung cancer? 1 5 A. The Division of Occupational Hygiene has 1 6 I 17 reams of information and it was up to us to be knowledgeable about these hazards when we went 18 out to make an evaluation, and my supervisor was 19 certain that I knew what the hazard was. 20 Q. And did you explain to the people at 21 Hollingsworth & Vose -- strike that question. 22 Did you explain to the people at H ft V 23 Specialties about these hazards? 24 MR. BRAKE: Objection. DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 2413 25 1 strike. It's apparent your success in working 2 with the witness, however I think you need to lay 3 a proper foundation first and you must not 4 dispense with those formalities. 5 I believe Mr. Comproni is not only 6 testifying about information knowledgeable to him 7 at the time, but information which he has learned 8 since. Certainly if he knew this knowledge at 9 the time I suspect his actions would have been 10 di f f e r e n t . 11 MR. JOHNSON: That's a very 12 interesting little statement, counsel. I would 1 3 ask that since we've got two defendants here that 14 you decide whoever it is you want to object to my 15 questions rather than have all four of you chime 1 6 in. 17 Moreover, I would request that you state 18 your basis for the objection and allow the 1 9 witness to answer rather than interrupt him. I'm 20 sure that you can all keep track of whatever 21 objections you make and make them at the 22 conclusion of his answer to the question rather 23 than interrupt his answer. 24 q . Mr. Comproni, I think my last -- I think 2414 26 what I was about to ask you when I was interrupted is what leads you to believe that they were cognizant of the hazards of the asbestos when you visited them in the 1950s? MR. BRAKE: Objection. A. We discussed that at the time we were doing our sampling. Q. You discussed it with whom? A. With the plant manager and with Mr. O'Malley, the foreman. Q. What's your best recollection of the gist of those discussions? A. To merely explain to them that we were here to evaluate their potentially hazardous working condition and that our test results would determine whether further controls were necessary in the p l a n t . MR. B00KSPAN: I'm sorry. A. Pardon? MR. B00KSPAN: Continue. I thought you were done. A. I am, go ahead. MR. BOOKSPAN: Can you read the answer back, please? n n D r c u TAMCC 6 lCnf'T!T7? TNr . 24i 1 MR. BRAKE: Objection. 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. What sort of companies come to mind that 4 would comply more quickly? 5 MR. BRAKE: Objection. 6 A. As a general rule we get compliance a lot 7 faster and more complete with large companies who 8 are quick to recognize hazards and are probably 9 more willing to avoid litigation than the smaller i 0 : 11 t 12 I companies who are not quite as well versed in these matters . The impact, of course, is greater on the 13 small -- economic impact is greater on the small 14 company than it is on a larger one. So you get 15 slower compliance in general. : 6 MR. BRAKE; Motion to strike. q. In the course of your visits to H & V Specialties that y o u 've described, did you come 19 to understand what they were manufacturing? 20 A. Yes. They were manufacturing filter 21 media for cigarettes. 22 Q. Given your position with the Commonwealth 23 of Massachusetts at that point, how did you react 24 to the fact that they were putting cigarette -- DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES; INC. 2416 92 asbestos in cigarette filters? MR . C O F E R : Objection MR . BRAKE : Objection A. Well, we were appalled at this sort of thing but it is beyond our power to do anything about that. Our respon sib i1ity was to evaluate worker exposure to asbestos. We worked for the Department of Labor and Industries. MR. COFER: Move to strike that answer, but would you also please read the answer back because I didn't catch the beginning of it. (The reporter read back the last question and answer.) Q. Mr. Comproni , can you explain what you mean when you say you were appalled? MR. BRAKE: Objection. MR'. McELANEY: Objection. MR. COFER: Objection. MR. BOOKSPAN: Objection. MR. FRAZIER: Objection. A. Well, asbestos is a known carcinogen causing' asbestosis and lung cancer and to put it in a product that you are actually breathing air from is not in keeping with the best health DORIS M. J ONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. '417 53 1 practices that -- period. 2 MR. COFER: Move to strike. 3 Q. Did you have occasion to discuss the use 4 of asbestos in a cigarette filter with the people 5 Special ties when you visited them? 6 Oh, yes. 7 Tell us about that 8 MR . BRAKE: Objection. 9 MR . COFER: Objection, hearsay : o A. Well, we were curious as to why they 11 would go to a toxic material like that for a 1 2 1 3 iI 14 i! 1 15 i 16 i 1 7 cigarette filter. And of course their answer was it was a very good filter material. And it's true, except that the use of it in that type of product we questioned. Q. And how -did they respond when you questioned it? 1 8 MR. BRAKE: Objection. 19 A. Well, they apparently felt that that was 20 a satisfactory use of asbestos. 2 1 MR. BRAKE: Motion to strike. The 22 question asked ybu what did they say. 23 MR. JOHNSON: Excuse me, counsel, 24 don't raise your voice, please. DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 2418 54 1 MR. BRAKE: If you can recall. 2 A. Yeah, well, I d o n 't recall the exact 3 words. 4 Q- What's the gist of what they said as best 5 you can? 6 MR. BRAKE; Objection. 7 A. The gist was that they felt it was a e satisfactory use of their product and they 9 continued to manufacture it. 10 Q. Do you know what particular cigarette 1 1 this product was being used in? 12 A. They told us it was used in the Kent 13 cigarettes. 14 i 1 5 i 1 6 17 i MR. CCFEE: Objection. Move to strike. Q. Mr. C o m p r o n i , I'm going to read a description of the cigarette product to you and ,13 I'll ask you a couple of questions about it. 19 "And remember, KENT and only KENT has the 20 Micronite Filter, made of a pure, dust-free, 21 completely harmless material that is not only so 22 effective, but so safe that it actually is used 23 to help filter the air in operating rooms of 24 leading hospitals." O O R TS M 7nttrs c. ASSOCIATES. INC. 24/0 67 1 A. Yes . 2 Q. When did you first become aware of any 3 hazard associated with exposure to asbestos? 4 A. My job was to work for the chief 5 engineer. The engineer was responsible for dust, 6 physical hazards, and ventilation. So 1 was 7 given extensive training in calibrating sampling 8 instrumentation, measuring ventilation systems 9 and even designing hooding for local exhaust 10 systems. 11 Q. And in connection with that work, at some 1 2 point you became aware that asbestos could be 13 harmful if inhaled by human beings, is that 14 right? 1 5 A. Very definitely. 1 6 Q. As best -you can recall, when was that? 17 A. 1951, late in 1951 when I was hired, 18 shortly thereafter 1 was hired. 19 Q. And I think you told us you were hired in 20 October of '51? 21 A. Yes. 22 q . so in the first few months that you 23 worked at the Division of Industrial Hygiene, you 24 became aware that asbestos could be harmful, is DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC. 2 4 2 2 69 1 Q. Indeed, it was fully Informed as of the 2 then existing state of scientific and technical 3 knowledge about the hazards of asbestos, .correct? 4 A. Yes. 5 MR. JOHNSON: I think your question 6 is a bit leading, counsel, but I'm sure the 7 witness can answer it. 8 Q . O k a y . Now -- 9 A. Stokinger is the -- Herb Stokinger was 10 the expert in Cincinnati, Ohio. 11 Q. Who did the NIOSH work you were talking 1 2 about? 13 A . Yes . 14 i I 15 Q. Now, as of 1951, were you a member of the association -- of the American Conference, 1 6 rather, of Industrial Governmental Hygienists? 17 A. No, you had to work, as I recall it, 18 either one or two years in the field before you 19 could join. And I joined as soon as I was 20 eligible. 21 Q. You did join as soon as you were 22 eligible? 23 A. Both AIHA and ACGIH. 2 4 q. Just so we're clear, the ACGIH is the DORIS M. JONES & ASSOCIATES, INC.