Tennessee Supreme Court Tuesday heard the case of the death of Amanda Satterfield of Blount County regarding the issue whether the case should go for trial.

Each party were allowed 30 minutes to present the case before the five judges of the court and answer the questions of the judges.

Amanda’s father Doug Satterfield was present in the court at East Tennessee for pursuing the case against Alcoa on his daughter’s behalf.

“My daughter didn’t choose to die from mesothelioma. She was innocent and had no part in it. Alcoa’s negligence is the only reason behind her death,” he said.

Doug Satterfield was working at Alcoa where he was exposed to asbestos.

“I daily went home with asbestos dust on my clothes. My poor daughter was exposed to it and we had no clue about the hazards caused by this,” he said.

Amanda passed away 3 years ago after diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer and the only known reason for this deadly disease is exposure to asbestos.

John Lucas, an attorney for Alcoa said that the company’s legal responsibility is limited to actual employees.

“There’s no legal relationship between Amanda Satterfield or any other third party and Alcoa. The company has no legal responsibility towards the families of their employees,” he said.

“Allowing family members to file suit will open the door for neighbors, carpool buddies, waiters, and anybody who come in contact with an asbestos-exposed employee. So, it’s ridiculous,” Lucas argued.

Lucas showed a chart of concentric circles to prove his claim.

Satterfield’s lawyer Greg Coleman said it’s reasonable to extend the legal responsibility of the company to immediate family members whom workers interact with every day.

“We know that Alcoa doesn’t have a duty to everyone in the universe. We are not saying that the legal responsibility applies to everyone but certainly to the family. They were aware that Doug Satterfield would go home. So they must also know that a duty should extend for that as well,” Coleman said.

The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on the issue within two months.

Tags: Alcoa, Asbestos, clothes, Court, Mesothelioma, supreme court

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Asbestos, Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.