Document a43boeV7QwJXEdYzn8xk53Xxb

FILE NAME: Reichhold (REI) DATE: 2012 Feb 14 DOC#: REI009 DOCUM ENT DESCRIPTION: Legal-Excerpts from Testimony of TR Madden Page" 1 1 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT 2 OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 3 IN AND FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY 4 IN RE: Asbestos Litigation 5 Limited to: Case No: 09C-01-021 6 Raymond Attwood 7 Duane Weaver Case No: Case No: 09C-2-063 08C-04-087 Alyce Riess Case No: 09C-07-303 9 Anna Hartgrave 10 11 12 Videotaped Deposition of Thomas R. Madden 13 February 14, 2012 At 10:00 a.m. 14 15 Taken At: Sheraton Charlotte Airport 16 Charlotte, North Carolina 17 18 19 20 21 Corbett Reporting - A Veritext Company 300 Delaware Avenue - Suite 815 22 Wilmington, DE 19801 23 24 Reported by LeShaunda Cass-Byrd, CSR, RPR V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EP O R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 167 1 Q. Okay. Now, in fact, in Mr. Meacham in his 2 letter dated April 30, 1980, I think you've got it as 3 Exhibit 15? 4 A. Yes, I do. Do you want it? 5 Q. Okay. You have it in front of you. 6 Mr. Meacham in his letter dated April 30, 1980, says 7 Reichhold was going to stop selling asbestos phenolic 8 molding compounds by the end of 1980, right? 9 A. Correct. 10 Q. And in fact, you have testified today that 11 Reichhold ceased the manufacture of 12 asbestos-containing phenolic molding compounds in 13 1980, correct? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. And y o u 'vetestified tothis jury that 16 Reichhold stopped selling asbestos phenolic molding 17 compounds in 1980, true? 18 A. To the best of my knowledge, yes. 19 Q. But that is not true, is it, sir? 20 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form. 21 THE WITNESS: Why wouldn't it be? 22 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Let me show you a 23 document I'll mark as Exhibit 21. 24 (Plaintiff Exhibit 21 was marked for V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L CO U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 P a g e 1 6 8 ------- 1 identification.) 2 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) And that is RI 00272 3 through 284. And take a few minutes and look at it, 4 and w e 111 go off the tape. 5 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 6 2;53 p.m. We are off the record. 7 (A recess was taken.) 8 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 9 2:54 p.m. We are on the record. 10 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Mr.Madden, have you 11 seen Exhibit 14 before? 12 MS. SPARDONE: 21, I believe it is. 13 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Excuseme, 21. 14 A. I 've seen them both. Yes, sir, I have 15 seen -- I have seen 21, yes, sir. 16 Q. Have you seen Exhibit 21 before, sir? 17 A. Yes, I have. 18 Q. And what is it? 19 A. It's a - appears to be a copy of an 20 Industrial Hygiene Survey. That was done at the 21 Carteret -- Reichhold Carteret facility. The report 22 is dated August 18th, 1981, and it gives the results 23 of air sampling tests, etc., at the -- well, this 24 is -- this is just a summary of the report, it was V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page T69' 1 written by Warren Townsend. It's his report of what 2 he saw during the day or days of his visit. 3 Q. And the date of the report is August 18, 4 1981? 5 A. Yes, it is, sir. 6 Q. And the date of sampling at the Carteret, 7 New Jersey, Reichhold Chemicals plant was June 25, 8 1981, and June 26, 1981, right? 9 A. That is correct. 10 Q. And that is a document that was in 11 Reichhold1s files, true? 12 A. Yes, at one time or another, yes. 13 Q. And the subject is Asbestos Sampling, 14 June 25, 1981, and June 26, 1981, correct? 15 A. Yes, it is. 16 Q. And it states under sampling comments, 17 No. 3, Only Line D was using asbestos. 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Line A, B and C were not using asbestos. 20 "Line" means production line, right? 21 A. Correct. 22 Q. So there was still asbestos product 23 manufacturing of phenolic molding compounds going on 24 six months later on in late June of 1981, correct? V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L CO U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 - 302-571-0510 "Page 1TO 1 A. What Line D was doing, looking at the bag 2 size and the amount of asbestos, that was a cleanup 3 batch, whatever bags were still in inventory of the 4 warehouse, they were__ 5 Q. They wanted to use it up? 6 A. Get rid of it. 7 Q. Get rid of it. I mean, they were producing 8 products? 9 A. And producing scrap product. 10 Q- Producing scrap product? You don''t know 11 that. 12 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form, 13 argumentative. 14 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Where does it say in 15 Exhibit 21 that they were producing scrap product six 16 months after you testified Reichhold stopped making 17 asbestos phenolic molding compound? 18 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form. 19 THE WITNESS: Okay. The document 20 itself doesn't say that, but if you look at 21 the batch sizes and the amount they are 22 using, they are just using up the last of 23 the material to get it to go to the 24 landfill and work they were doing with it. V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 * page 174 1 THE WITNESS: We chose that method to 2 do it. 3 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) You chose that method, 4 and in fact. The Hartford Insurance Company came by 5 and actually did asbestos product -- asbestos fiber 6 release sampling on the workers who were doing this 7 work? And that is, again, RI 00272 through 284. It *s 8 Exhibit -- 9 A. The document -- yeah, the document says 10 what it says. 11 Q. It's Exhibit 14, right? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. And in fact, these workers were being 14 exposed to asbestos during this process six months 15 after the fact, only for the purpose, apparently, of 16 disposing of the material? 17 A. Let me just read -- 18 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form, asked 19 and answered. 20 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Is that correct? 21 MS. SPARDONE: Same objection. 22 THE WITNESS: Let me just say what 23 the conclusion is, so that may clear the 24 record. It says, air sampling. I'm V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L CO U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 - 302-571-0510 Page 17b 1 looking at 0000273. Conclusion? Air 2 sampling, the data sheet summary indicates 3 that all TWAs were below the standard of 4 two fibers, longer than 5 millimeters per 5 cubic centimeter stated in the OSHA 6 standard. 7 So therefore, the individuals were 8 following standard procedure, which was at 9 all times that they were handling raw 10 asbestos, regardless of the atmosphere, 11 which was well below the OSHA standard, 12 that they were aware of respiratory 13 protection, and in fact, all of the samples 14 that he took that day, wherever he took 15 them, were below the TWA, so the workers 16 were not being exposed to asbestos fibers 17 in excess of what this standard allowed -- 18 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) And I asked you -- 19 A. -- if at all. 20 Q. I asked you if they were being exposed to 21 asbestos fibers, and the answer would be yes. 22 A. I just 23 M S . SPARDONE: Object to form. 24 THE WITNESS: -- stated my answer. V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EP O R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 - 302-571-0510 ~~ 2T-- lino 17* 1 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Were they exposed to 2 asbestos fibers? 3 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form, asked 4 and answered. 5 THE WITNESS: The document speaks for 6 itself. That is my answer to it. 7 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Is it a yes or a no? 8 MS. SPARDONE: Same objection, 9 argumentative. 10 THE WITNESS: No. 11 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) The workers were not 12 exposed to asbestos, and that's the conclusion in 13 Exhibit 21? 14 A. That's -- that is the way I understand it. 15 Q. You are talking about below certain levels? 16 A. Correct. 17 Q. They were exposed to asbestos? 18 A. We would have to go through each and every 19 one of these. 20 Q. We can do that. 21 A. And the fellows that were handling the 22 material were not, in fact, exposed because they were 23 wearing aspirators. 24 Q. They stated they were surprised -- in fact, V ER IT EX T N A T IO N A L CO U R T R EPO RTING CO M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 ---------------------------------------------Page" 177 1 in the document, the investigator for Hartford 2 Insurance states that it was surprised to find 3 asbestos concentrations in all of the lines, even 4 though Reichhold represented that they weren't using 5 asbestos anymore, true? 6 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form. 7 THE WITNESS: Correct. That is the 8 statement, what he said. 9 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) Let's flip to Page 278 10 of the document. That is Bates stamp number 278. 11 A, (Witness complies.) 12 Q. The first sample is of an individual 13 working on Lines A and B, true? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Okay. Was molding operation location. Are 16 you seeing that? 17 A. Yes. I'm sorry. 18 Q. Now, molding Compounds, Building 406; do 19 you see that? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. First half Man A and B, do you see that? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. And the first samplethey found 75,000 24 asbestos fibers. Do you see that? V ER IT EX T N A T IO N A L CO U R T REPO RTING CO M P A N Y 888-777-6690 ~ 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 'a g e 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. The second sample of the same person on 3 Lines A and B they found 55,000 asbestos fibers. Do 4 you see that? 5 A. Yes, under that column. But I would point 6 out there is additional information contained on this 7 sheet. 8 Q. Well, the second sample of the same person 9 on Lines A and B -- and by the way, Lines A and B were 10 not actually the lines that were manufacturing the 11 asbestos phenolic molding compound material, it was 12 Line D, correct? 13 A. Correct. 14 Q. So they are finding 75,000 fibers on one 15 man on Line A and B, and the same guy they find 55,000 16 asbestos fibers, correct? 17 A. That is correct. 18 Q. And the third sample, the same individual 19 on Lines A and B, they find 43,000 asbestos fibers, 20 true? 21 A. Correct. 22 Q. The fourth sample on Lines A and B, they 23 find 22,000 asbestos fibers, right? 24 A . Correct. V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EP O R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 ~ 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 Page 17y 1 Q. Flip to the next page, please, Mr. Madden, 2 Page C 3 A. Is that 79 -- 4 Q. 79, Line C, I'm sorry. 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. This is an individual working on Line C, 7 correct? 8 A. Correct. 9 Q. And this would have been on June 25, 26, 10 1981, right? 11 A. It's marked June 25th, 1981, yes. 12 Q. Okay. And the first sample test they found 13 40,000 asbestos fibers on that man? 14 A. Correct. 15 Q. And the second sample they found 42,000 16 asbestos fibers, right? 17 A. In the sample, yes. 18 Q. And the third sample they found 36,000 19 asbestos fibers on the man, correct? 20 A. Correct. 21 Q. And the fourth sample they found 32,000 22 asbestos samples, right? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q- And that is for a product line that was not V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L C O U R T R EPO R T IN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510 ------------ P a g e 180------ 1 even manufacturing the asbestos phenolic molding, 2 correct? 3 MS. SPARDONE: Object to form, asked 4 and answered. 5 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) That is correct? 6 A. Correct. 7 Q. Let's look at the next page. 8 A. (Witness complies.) 9 Q- This is an individual who was on Line B, 10 which you've told us was not using asbestos, right? 11 A. Correct. 12 Q. The first sample found 61,000 asbestos 13 fibers, correct? 14 A. I'm sorry, the first one I read was 52. 15 What's the Bates number? I'm sorry. 16 Q. The Bates stampwould have been the next 17 page. I can -- 18 MS. SPARDONE: 280. 19 MR. THOMPSON: 280. 20 THE WITNESS: Oh, 280. Okay. I'm 21 sorry. I missed a page. No, you're right. 22 Q. (By Mr. Thompson) No, that isallright. 23 So the first sample found 61,000 asbestos 24 fibers, correct ? V E R IT E X T N A T IO N A L CO U R T R EPO RTIN G C O M P A N Y 888-777-6690 - 215-241-1000 - 610-434-8588 ~ 302-571-0510