IBM, plaintiffs tussle in hazards damages case

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Lawyers representing IBM Corp. and two former employees suing the company over alleged work-related cancers delivered opening statements Tuesday in a court here, revisiting working conditions and corporate behavior in the pioneering days of computer hardware.

Alida Hernandez and James Moore suffered “systemic chemical poisoning” during careers at IBM’s sprawling Cottle Road facility in San Jose, California, that spanned from the 1960s to the 1990s, attorney Richard Alexander of Alexander, Hawes and Audet LLP told the jury. IBM concealed the fact that materials they were working with could harm them, he said.

Hernandez, 73, endured a mastectomy after developing breast cancer, and Moore, 62, suffers from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Both displayed symptoms of chronic chemical poisoning while working at IBM, Hernandez in hard disk drive manufacturing and Moore in circuit board making and system assembly, Alexander said.

“Jim and Alida both suffered systemic chemical poisoning. They were never told their conditions were caused by chemicals in the workplace,” Alexander said.

The plaintiffs allege IBM committed fraud by concealing the dangers from them and are seeking punitive as well as compensatory damages. The cases of two other workers were to have been heard along with those of Hernandez and Moore, but on Monday were cut from this case. IBM produced important evidence too late to have those cases included, Alexander said.

IBM’s attorney said the company informed workers about hazards and in Hernandez’s case took precautions to safeguard her health, removing her from a manufacturing “clean room” after liver tests showed problems. Medical records and tests of workplace conditions at the time do not support claims of chemical poisoning, said Robert Weber an attorney with Jones Day in Cleveland. The amounts of chemicals in use were well below regulatory limits and many other factors could have caused the employees’ illnesses, he said.

“Neither Ms. Hernandez nor Mr. Moore has ever to this day been diagnosed as having systemic chemical poisoning by any of their doctors,” Weber said.

The trial before Judge Robert Baines in Superior Court for the state of California for the county of Santa Clara will air longtime concerns that working conditions in high-tech industry settings such as manufacturing “clean rooms” contain significant health hazards.

Some former IBM employees wearing black armbands held a vigil on the lawn of the suburban court house Tuesday morning and later watched the proceedings. One former Cottle Road employee, John Roberts, said the image IBM presented was sugar-coated.

Unlike a small contemporary hard-disk drive IBM showed on a slide during court proceedings, the disks made in the 1980s and before were much larger and made with earlier, more hazardous methods, he said. In addition, chemical exposure standards were based on 40-hour workweeks, something he and other ex-employees said they rarely worked. Longer hours were common, they said.

Also named in the case is chemical company Pacific Pac Inc. Complaints against several other chemical companies have been settled or otherwise removed from the case. The trial, which is expected to last at least several weeks, is set to continue Wednesday with testimony by Hernandez.