Jurors Rule For IBM In Cancer Lawsuit Brought By Ex-employees

The jury deliberated for less than two days before clearing the computer giant of claims that the harsh chemicals used in its factory caused the retirees' illnesses. The former workers, who were diagnosed with cancer in the 1990s, were seeking damages that could have totaled millions of dollars.

The trial was the first of more than 200 similar lawsuits against IBM, and riveted the industry, which bills itself as clean and progressive. Some observers had said a jury verdict against IBM could have triggered more lawsuits against semiconductor companies and other high-tech businesses.

The two retirees who brought the California case claimed IBM hid the dangers of their job at the plant in San Jose. IBM said the unanimous jury decision vindicated Big Blue from the charges of 'fraudulent concealment.'

'We're pleased with the result,' said IBM spokesman Chris Andrews. 'It's an acknowledgment that employee safety and health is part of our culture.'

Retiree James Moore, 62, began working for IBM in the 1960s and suffers from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. His attorney asked the jury to award him $11,000 per year for the rest of his life in lost wages, $26,000 in medical expenses and possibly millions in pain and suffering.

Moore looked unemotional as the verdict was read in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Afterward, he said he felt disappointed and betrayed.

'I trusted IBM,' Moore said. 'If I knew then what I know now, I would have walked off the job.'

Alida Hernandez, 73, a 14-year veteran of the San Jose plant, said during three months of courtroom testimony that IBM hoodwinked workers about the foul-smelling chemical mixtures that soaked her chest and arms. Hernandez suffered from liver damage and breast cancer that resulted in a mastectomy, and she was asking for at least $8 million.

'The only thing I can say is at least I got the word out,' Hernandez said. 'I hope someday California will change the law so they will tell people what they are working with, and so it won't be a silent poisoning.'

In closing arguments this week, IBM attorney Robert Weber called the case 'pure hokum,' dismissing the notion that the chemicals caused poisoning or cancer.

He has said that Hernandez, a diabetic who was obese during her IBM career, and Moore, a former smoker, likely developed cancer from issues unrelated to the workplace.

'IBM has been a safe place to work all along,' he said after the verdict. 'Unfortunately IBM employees get sick just like how everyone else gets sick.'

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM is facing similar lawsuits in Silicon Valley, New York and Minnesota, including about 40 involving birth defects in children of IBM workers. The first of those other cases is due to go to court Tuesday in White Plains, N.Y.

Plaintiffs' attorney Richard Alexander said it was too early to decide whether he would seek to appeal the case.

He said he was disappointed with the judge's refusal to let him present some evidence, including a 'corporate mortality file' that IBM maintained on its workers and a study showing that IBM workers had higher rates of cancer than the population at large.

'We had to try the case with our hands tied behind our back,' Alexander said.

Despite IBM's victory, however, experts said the company faces bigger challenges in other jurisdictions.

California requires most on-the-job injury claims to be settled through the state's workers compensation system, where IBM fought to have Hernandez and Moore's case heard. In the fall, Judge Robert Baines allowed the plaintiffs to bypass the workers comp system and enter the courtroom, based on what he considered compelling pretrial evidence.

But while the judge's ruling exposed IBM to millions of dollars in damages, it also increased the plaintiffs' burden of proof. To win, the plaintiffs had to show that workplace conditions caused their cancers and that IBM managers knew about the dangers and lied to the workers even after they complained of bloody noses, pink eye, blackouts and fatigue for several years.

'The judge in California raised the bar very high,' said Hal Shaftel, a trial attorney with New York-based Proskauer Rose. 'When the case goes to New York, the standard will change. This verdict clearly does not knock out the other cases. IBM will have to fight another day.'

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