Union Carbide, one of several defendants named in an asbestos suit brought by Tennessee man James Weese, recently sought to have the case removed from Madison County, Illinois to federal court. Asserting a government contractor defense, Union Carbide claims that it was a government contractor from the 1940's to 1984, acting under an officer or agency of the United States, during the time of the plaintiff's alleged exposure at an Oak Ridge, TN nuclear weapons facility. Weese claims that he worked as a pipefitter, laborer and welder in various locations including Illinois, from the early 1940's through the early 1990's. Diagnosed with mesothelioma in March 2007, Weese filed suit in Madison County Circuit Court on June 27th against 118 corporations inlcuding Alcoa, CBS, Discount Auto Parts, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Goodyear, Honeywell, Ingersoll-Rand, Pabst Brewing, Sears, and Union Carbide, claiming that during the course of his employment he was exposed to toxic asbestos fibers in the products he was working with and around. Among other things, Weese claims that defendants included asbestos in their products even when adequate substitutes were available and failed to provide the proper safety instructions for handling and working with asbestos, and that defendants knew or should have known of the dangerous effects of asbestos. Union Carbide is further seeking to have the federal court stay the proceeding as it tries to have the case transferred to MDL court.

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