Document MoaGMRwZK0jKEQngxJ2d1r27a

FILE NAME: Riverside Cement (RVC) DATE: 2013 May 22 DOC#: RVC023 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Deposition of JN Stoss JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Page 1 Coordinated Proceeding Special Title Rule 3.550 LAOSD ASBESTOS CASES ALBERT FOX, an individual; and JANE FOX, an individual; Plaintiffs, vs . ABB, INC., et al., Defendants. Coordinated Case No. JCCP4674 Case No. BC497665 VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF PERSON MOST QUALIFIED FOR AMCORD, JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS Thursday, May 22, 2013 Phoenix, Arizona Reported by: EVE K. BURTON, RPR, CRR, AZ Certified Reporter No. CA CSR No. 12527 50261, JOB No. 184733 ..." .. ''- -V-'. ..... . n HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM **< ,, V: fx ^ -s .... JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS 1 APPEARANCES : 2 Page 3 3 For Plaintiffs: 4 WEITZ & LUXENBERG, PC BY: BRENT ZADOROZNY, ESQ. (Telephonic) 5 1880 Century Park East, Suite 700 Los Angeles, California 90067 6 (310) 247-0921 bzado.rozny@weitzlux.com 7 8 For Defendants Amcord, Inc., and ABB, Inc.: 9 SELMAN BREITMAN, LLP BY: CRAIG MAKI, ESQ. 10 11766 Wilshire Boulevard, Sixth Floor Los Angeles, California 90025-6538 11 (310) 445-0800 cmakiSselmanbreitman.com 12 13 For Defendant Union Carbide Corporation: 14 McKENNA, LONG & ALDRIDGE, LLP BY: FREDERIC NORRIS, ESQ. 15 300 South Grand Avenue, Fourteenth Floor Los Angeles, California 90071 16 (213) 688-1000 fnorris@mckenna.long. com 17 18 For Defendant CalPortland Company: 19 BERKES CRANE ROBINSON & SEAL BY: VIIU SPANGLER KHARE, ESQ. 20 (Telephonic) 515 South Figueroa Street, Suite 1500 21 Los Angeles, California 90071 (213) 955-1150 22 vspanglerkhare@bcrslaw.com 23 24 25 HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS Page 53 1 MR. ZADOROZNY: Okay. Do you -- I think 2 he also talked about a Bob Smith deposition and a Michael 3 Jordan deposition. 4 MR. MAKI: Well, that's actually -- he 5 actually said Dale Smith. You said Bob Smith. So -- 6 MR. ZADOROZNY: Oh, okay. I don't know 7 why I have -- so Dale Smith. You -- so I think the 8 Michael Jordan deposition is one that you didn't mention. I 9 If you'd give me that transcript also, that would be 10 helpful. 11 MR. MAKI: All right. I think I did, but 12 if I didn't, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's on my list of here 13 things to give you on a disk. 14 MR. ZADOROZNY: Okay. That would be 15 great. Thanks. 16 Q. BY MR. ZADOROZNY: Okay. Let me ask you a 17 couple of -- well, first, let me -- let me ask you this: 18 Is it your understanding that your testimony today is as 19 Amcord, Inc. ; in fact, you are -- have been set forth as 20 the person most qualified to talk about certain issues on 21 behalf of Amcord? 22 A. . Correct. 23 Q. Okay. And other than your work with Phoenix 24 Cement during the time period when it was a division of 25 American Cement, that is your only actual personal HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS Page 67 1 Q. BY MR. ZADOROZNY: That you're aware of? 2 A. Yes. Right. 3 Q. Okay. Is it your understanding that those are 4 a complete set of all the documents that would have 5 referenced the purchase of asbestos by Amcord for use in 6 its Riverside gun plastic cement? 7 MR. M A K I : Objection. Vague and 8 ambiguous, overbroad. You mean for the years that are 9 listed, or for the entire time period when gun plastic 10 was manufactured? 11 MR. ZADOROZNY: For the entire time period 12 that gun plastic was manufactured. 13 THE WITNESS: I don't believe 14 Ms. S a v e r a n c e ha d all of the documents. 15 Q. BY MR. ZADOROZNY: Okay. Okay. Category 16 number 6 asks about all information pertaining to your 17 knowledge of the hazards of asbestos between inception 18 and present and specifically when you received 19 information that asbestos could cause asbestosis, lung 20 cancer, and/or mesothelioma and how you learned of the 21 same. 22 So my question is, is do you have an 23 understanding as to when Amcord first received any 24 information that asbestos could cause any disease? 25 A. The first indication occurs in New York City, HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM NICHOLAS STOSS Page 68 1 I think in April of 1971, when New York City puts a ban 2 on the use of sprayed asbestos fireproofing on the World 3 Trade Center. From the 40th floor of the North Tower 4 upwards, they were -- they were not allowed to use 5 asbestos fireproof -- containing fireproof -- fireproof 6 containing asbestos. 7 And in July of 1971, Dr. Dave Cahn, who is an 8 employee of Riverside Cement, sent a memo to Charlie 9 Bush, who was Vice President of Engineering, indicating 10 that New York City had put a ban on high-dosage 11 asbestos-containing products and that it would behoove 12 Riverside to start finding a substitute for the asbestos 13 in gun plastic. 14 Q. Okay. 15 MR. MAKI: And, Brent, we've been going 16 about an hour and a half. Whenever you think is a good 17 time to take a break, I could use one. 18 MR. ZADOROZNY: This is a great time. 19 Let's take ten minutes. 20 MR. MAKI: Okay. Thank you. 21 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 22 MR. MAKI: Off the record. 23 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: This ends Videotape 24 Number 1, Volume Number I, in the deposition of John 25 Stoss on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013. We are off the HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITJGATION.COM JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS Page 73 1 THE COURT REPORTER: Okay. That's marked. 2 Q. BY MR. ZADOROZNY: Can you take a look at page 3 2 of that document. 4 A. The Cahn letter? 5 Q. Correct. 6 And is this the letter that you were 7 referencing in your testimony before we took the break? 8 A. That's correct. 9 Q. Okay. And it is your understanding and belief 10 that this is the first indication from anything that 11 you've reviewed of some knowledge by what became Amcord ! 12 of dangers associated with asbestos? 13 A. That's correct. 14 Q. Okay. And the project proposal on the next 15 page was a project to attempt to obtain or to manufacture 16 a non-asbestos-containing gun plastic cement? 17 A. That is correct. 18 Q. And who was D. S. Cahn in terms of his work 19 with American Cement Corporation which eventually became 20 Amcord? 21 A. Dr. Dave Cahn was a Director of Environmental 22 Affairs at Riverside, and I believe he was later named, 23 at Amcord's headquarters in Newport Beach, Vice President 24 of Environmental Matters. 25 Q. Okay. And do you know how long he had been HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM JOHN NICHOLAS STOSS Page 74 1 working at American Cement Corporation prior to this 2 July 6th, 1971, letter? 3 A. No, I don't. I know he -- when I came on 4 board in Octob- -- at Phoenix Cement in October of '72 5 that Dr. Dave Cahn was working for Riverside. o Q. Okay. And you -- you said he was in charge of 7 the environmental -- what did you call the -- 8 A. Environmental Affairs or Environmental 9 Matters. I'm not sure what his exact title was. 10 Q. Okay. Do you know how long American Cement 11 Corporation then had an Environmental Affairs or such 12 department? 13 A. No. That would be before my time, and I 14 really don't know. 15 Q. Okay. Do you know if any employment records 16 have been maintained or are in existence somewhere in 17 Amcord that would show when Mr. -- Dr. Cahn first began 18 working? 19 A. I don't believe there are any documents that 20 would indicate that. 21 Q. Okay. Do you know if -- after the 22 understanding that there was a ban on the spraying of 23 certain asbestos products, whether Dr. Cahn or anyone at 24 American Cement Corporation went out and did any research 25 regarding the dangers associated with asbestos exposure? HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM NICHOLAS STOSS 1 State of California ) ) ss 2 County of Los Angeles ) 3 Page 315 4 I, EVE K. BURTON, Certified Reporter No. 50261 5 for the State of Arizona, Certified Shorthand Reporter 6 No. 12527 for the State of California, Registered 7 Professional Reporter, and Certified Realtime Reporter, 8 hereby certify: 9 The foregoing proceedings were taken before me 10 at the time and place therein set forth, at which time 11 the deponent was placed under oath by me; 12 The testimony of the deponent and all :: 13 objections made at the time of the examination were 14 recorded stenographically by me and were thereafter 15 transcribed; 16 The foregoing transcript is a true and correct 17 transcript of my shorthand notes so taken; 18 I further certify that I am neither counsel 19 for nor related to any party to said action, nor in any 20 way interested in the outcome thereof. 21 In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed 22 my name this 4th day of June, 2013. 23 24 25 EVE K. BURTON HG LITIGATION SERVICES HGLITIGATION.COM CERTIFIED COURT REPORTERS V ORIGINAL \ IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF(SAN FRANCI^O " :\y " :' 'Jfi'f1 In re: COMPLEX ASBESTOS LITIGATION ..... W. .-.. - -. ms. . . ' *' ; . r> V . . . " * Deposition of Date:- ':.: Commenced at: Concluded at: Robert Hyche ?- T-sSKAjgjjt-r*"' .-->:* {v-'; .- * i S i | Thursdayr April 2, .1992 w?' 1:30 p.m. ` *N '* S' 4:3 p.m. -.* ..-*i * "'"V* > P il a c-, e>*.. *vr'JH-- '*' * <- . .yy* r4.; t '"lsi; East. -First Street ; S u i t e 1 2 00.' t "1 T*`. AjSuatkr Aa, ,kC a lifo r n ia .^92705 Reporter:-. 11-D H P;irkcourt PI. Suite 100 Santi Ana. Ca . 92701 (7l-tJ 558-9400 <213) 487-9939 <800) " 29-M and M FAX <~l-t ) 836-5195 Pamela Zitny, CSR Certificate No.-4461 l?JrMt ^fJWA\4 Deposition of Robert Hyche, taken before Pamela Zitny, Certificate No. 4461, Certified Shorthand Reporter for the State of California, on Thursday, April 2, 1992, in the offices of Liebman, Reiner & McNeil, located at 1851 East First Street, Suite 1200, Santa Ana, California. APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL: For the Plaintiff: Law Offices of Brayton, Gisvold & Harley By: JAMES L. HAND 993 Grant Avenue Novato, California 94948 (415) 898-1555 For the Defendant Riverside Cement Company: Law Offices of Liebman, Reiner & McNeil B y : CRAIG NELSON 3255 Wilshire Boulevard 12th Floor Los Angeles, California 90010 (213) 387-0777 For the Defendant Cal Mat: Law Offices of Bodkin, McCarthy, Sarqent & Smith By: MARK WILFRED LAU 707 Wilshire Boulevard 51st Floor Los Angeles, California 90017 (213) 620-1000 r ywfeu 1 Santa Ana, California, Thursday, April 2, 1392 2 3 ROBERT HYCHE, 4 5 called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn by 6 the Certified Shorthand Reporter, was examined and 7 testified as follows: 8 9 EXAMINATION 10 11 MR. HAND: Q. Would you please state your name. 12 A. Robert E . Hyche, spelled H-y-c-h-e. 13 Q. Mr. Hyche, have you ever been deposed before? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. On approximately how many occasions? 16 A. Maximum two or three. 17 Q. My name is James Hand. And I am with the ia Brayton law office up near San Francisco. We represent a 19 number of plaintiffs in asbestos litigation pending 20 throughout the state of California. I am here to ask you 21 some questions about Riverside Cement Company and gun 22 plastic cement and asbestos issues. 23 Have either of these or any of these 24 depositions that you have given previously involved 25 asbestos? i situation to be avoided if possible. That is to say, it is best to get it right the first time. Is that understood? A. I understand. Q. Is there any reason such as medication why your deposition can't go forward this afternoon? A. No. Q. What's your presentposition at Riverside Cement? A. I actually retired from Riverside Cement Company effective May 30th, 1991. Q. Do you act as a consultant for them on occasion? 14 A. Yes, Q. Is that in the capacity in which you are here today? A. Yes. Q. They are reimbursing you for your time? A. I have a retainer-type of -- on a yearly basis which this would cover. Q. What position didyou have atRiverside before you retired? A. I was vice-president and general manager of the Riverside Cement Company. Q. Will you briefly describe for us your ) 7 1 I educational background, 2 A. Graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of 3 Science degree in marketing and a minor in economics. And 4 then I have taken various advanced courses but no further 5 degree, 6 Q. When did you receive your B.S. Degree? 7 A. 1950. 8 Q. And will you generally describe for us your 9 employment before you began work at Riverside. 10 A. I worked for several years as a sales 11 representative with Swift & Company, which was then an 12 independent company. And then X was with Standard Oil of 13 California for approximately three years prior to joining 14 Riverside Cement Company on December 1 of 1955. 15 Q. You are a sales rep for Swift & Company for 16 what types of products? 17 A. Beef, pork, that type of thing. They are a 18 meat division. Also included are table-ready meats and 19 smoked types of meats, things like that. 20 Q. What was your position at Standard Oil? 21 A. I was basically in credit sales doing credit 22 reviews with larger, bigger accounts. 23 2.4 25 i Q. What was your first position with Riverside Cement? A. It was in a staff capacity as assistant to 8 the then vice-president and treasurer. Q. What were your duties? A. Basically, assisting the treasurer in his functions which included overall responsibility in the financial area. It included pension trust accounts, insurance, that kind of nature. Q, How long did you work in that capacity? A. Approximately four years. Q. What was your next position? A. I became manager of administrative services. Q. What were your duties as manager of administrative services? A. It was a collection of various functions within the company that were either -- neither purely manufacturing or purely sales and marketing at that time. Q. Where was your office at that time? 621 South Hope Street. Los Angeles? Yes, downtown Los Angeles. How long were you manager of administrative > A. Frankly, I don't recall. That would be subject to check. But for -- I would say approximately a year. And then, during that period of time, I had done some marketing studies for the company relating to white 9 r \ 11 |1 ! >1 '* >: { >| i ) 1 j .) > i ) i Icement- So, the natural evolution was from there I became 2 |next the marketing manager for white cement and that would 3 1have been in roughly around 1960 because we entered the 4 | market in '61. 5 1 Q. 6 cement? How long were you marketing manager for white 7 A. Approximately four years. a Q. That would take us up to about 1965? 9 A. '64 or '65, yes. Again, subject to check. 10 Q. And what was your next position? li A. From there, -- well, I have to backtrack a 12 1 little. Because in 1955 -- I mean '59, I beg your pardon, 13 |! Riverside and two other cement companies merged and 14 | Riverside legally became the American Cement Corporation. 15 So, you had then a Riverside division, a IS Phoenix division -- I beg your-pardon, A Peerless 17 division, and a Hercules division. So, X then became 18 marketing manager for the Riverside Cement division at 19 l^that time. 20 MR. NELSON: In 1959? No, no. 21 22 ;I THE WITNESS: BY MR. HAND: No, going beyond this. Q. How long were you marketing 23 | manager for white cement for the Riverside division for 24 1 the American Cement Corporation? 25 A. The date I gave you, from roughly 1960 to 10 i "> 1 1 iI '64. 2 Q. And what was your next position then? 3 j A. Then, as I said, I became marketing manager 4 Pif for the Riverside division. Subsequently, there was a 5 | kind of - * we had built the Phoenix division in Arizona > 6 and that became more or less the Pacific southwest region 7 and I became the regional marketing manager for both those 8 |j divisions, for the Riverside Cement Company and the 9 I Phoenix Cement Company. 10 I Q. When did you assume that position of regional ) 1! I[ manager? 12 I | A. I'd say approximately a year after becoming | 13 j? the marketing manager for the Riverside division. And n 14 t . then holding that, the regional division marketing 1 IS |% manager, I became the one date would be in 1966, I ) 16 | became the general sales manager of the Riverside group. | 17 f \ Q. The Riverside group consisted of Riverside 18 1 and Phoenix? j 1* 19 A. No. By then they had split them apart again. 2 0 I So, it was strictly back to Riverside division totally. ) 21 Q. At that time, about 1966, was the Riverside 22 division making sales only within California? 23 A. Yes. Phoenix Cement Company had been formed j 24 and were servicing that market totally. And we really i 25 were restricted basically to southern California. Not all ) 11 apHeaawa 3 .) j i 3 12 1 formed in that R & D department. It would have been in 2 the maybe mid '60's. First of the '70's. 3 Q. Do you know whether or not Dave Kahn ever 4 appeared before the EPA -- 5 A. I have no -- 6. Q. -- and spoke on the issue of the use of 7 asbestos-containing spray materials? 8 A. No, I do not, no. * 9 Q. Mr. Hyche, other than any possible warnings 10 that Riverside placed at some point in time on the bags of 11 gun plastic cement, do you know whether Riverside ever 12 provided any information about possible health hazards of 13 asbestos to any of its dealers or customers? 14 A. I can't recall whether we did or not. Again, IS I would go back that if the law required it, we would have 16 done it. But I can't say for certain. 17 You are referring to the period of time 18 between the time that we manufactured gun plastic cement, 19 of course? 20 Q. Yes. Any time in the 197 0 's whether 21 Riverside ever provided any information about possible 22 health hazards of asbestos to any of its customers? 23 A. I cannot recall whether we did or not. 24 Q. Did you ever see any of the persons in the 25 field who were gunning Riverside's gun plastic cement ware 83 CERTIFICATE OF CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER The undersigned Certified Shorthand Reporter and/or Notary Public of the State of California does hereby certify: That the foregoing deposition was taken before me at the time and place therein set forth, at which time the witness was duly sworn by me; That the testimony of the witness and all objections made at the time of the examination were recorded stenographically by me and was thereafter transcribed, said transcript being a true record of the testimony. In witness whereof, I have subscribed my name and Certification Number on this date: APR 1 7 1 9 9 2 _____________ 1 Brad D. Bleichner (SBN 118758) Rod J. Cappv (SBN 137151) 2 SELMAN BREITMAN LLP 11766 Wilshire Blvd,, Sixth Floor 3 Los Angeles, CA 90025-6538 Telephone: 310,445.0800 4 Facsimile: 310.473.2525 5 Attorneys for Defendant AMCORD, INC. 6 7 8 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA 9 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 10 11 DON LEE; Case No. BC528357 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. 14 AMCORD, INC., et ah; STANDARD INTERROGATORIES TO PLAINTIFFS Complaint Filed: Inal: November 21,2013 May 21, 2015 15 Defendants. lt L7 18 19 TO PLAINTIFF AND HIS ATTORNEY(S) OF RECORD: 20 Defendant AMCORD, INC. requests that plaintiff answer each o f the following 21 interrogatories, pursuant to Code o f Civil Procedure, Section 2030 and the Court's 22 General Orders, within 60 days after the service o f these interrogatories. 23 PRELIMINARY STATEMENT AND DEFINITIONS 24 The law firm whose name appears on this page represents the propounding 25 defendant only, and is not appearing in this action on behalf o f any other defendant or 26 defendants. 27 Unless otherwise specified, the time period covered by these interrogatories is 28 from the date o f your birth until the date o f your response hereto. 1 AMCORD, INC.'S STANDARD INTERROGATORIES TO PLAINTIFF 1 adjacent to others performing these job duties; 2 e. The safety precautions and equipment, if any, which your employer made 3 available; and 4 f. The safety precautions and equipment which you used while performing 5 your duties. 6 III. EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS 7 26. For each product, material or compound (collectively referred to as 8 "product") which you contend contains ASBESTOS allegedly manufactured, produced, 9 prepared, distributed or sold by any defendant named in this action or by its predecessors, 10 subsidiaries, subdivisions or affiliates, and which you claim to have been exposed to at Oh --J 1 any time: --1 12 a. Describe each product as specifically as possible, including its trade name, < O t-, w >- uj PQ Z K c HO cd H< 13 product type, ASBESTOS content, color, packaging, and manufacturer, together with a 14 detailed description o f when and how you became aware o f this information; 15 b. State the date(s) on which and places where you were exposed or your best 16 estimate thereof, together with the circumstances surrounding snch exposure (i.e., were (D 17 you working with it or simply near an area where it was being used?) to the product; GO 18 c. Describe all instructions, recommendations or warnings o f any kind that 19 accompanied the product, together with the location(s) where this information appeared 20 (e.g., printed on tag, tag covering, instruction sheet accompanying product, etc.); 21 d. Describe all instructions and recommendations given to you regarding the 22 product by your employer or superior at any time, together with the name, job title, and 23 address o f the PERSON who gave you the instructions or recommendations and the date 24 you were given the instructions or recommendations; 25 e. State the puipose for which you used the product; and 26 f. State the date you first became aware that the product allegedly contained 11 ASBESTOS, together with a detailed description o f the circumstances by which you so 28 became aware. SSSfltf I `>30.35013 8 AMCORJD, INC.'S STANDARD INTERROGATORIES TO PLAINTIFF 1 custodian o f the results o f the examination; 2 f. The interpretative or diagnostic results derived from the examination, 3 together with the date that these results were made known to you or to anyone acting on 4 your behalf. 5 79. If any treatment, recommendation or prescribed therapy resulted from the 6 examinations described in your response to Interrogatory No, 78, state with regard to 7 each such examination; 8 a. The purpose and objective o f the treatment; 9 b. The date, time and duration o f the treatment; IO c. The name and dosage o f any prescribed medication; 11 d. The degree o f success or failure o f each treatment; and 12 c. Whether you cooperated with or ignored the recommendations or 13 treatments. If you chose to ignore the recommendations, state your reasons for doing so. 14 15 DATED: January 14, 2014 16 SELMAN BREITMAN LLP 17 18 BRAD D. BLEICHNER ROD J. CAPPY 19 Attorneys for Defendant 20 AMCORD, INC. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 27 AMCORD. INC.'S STANDARD INTERROGATORIES TO PLAINTIFF