Willie Byrd v. Hunt Tool Shipyards, Inc., Pulmosan Safety Equipment Corporation

SPEARS, District Judge:

This is a products liability case initiated by Byrd against Pulmosan Safety Equipment Corp. (Pulmosan), an industrial safety equipment manufacturer. Byrd, a sandblaster-painter at the Hunt Tool Shipyards (Hunt Tool) from 1965 to 1970, was furnished a Pulmosan H-30-G hood to protect him from the deleterious effects of silica dust. In 1977, Byrd was forced to discon- • tinue working because of a respiratory ailment, which was diagnosed as silicosis, a disabling disease invariably resulting in premature death. The jury determined that Byrd was exposed to dangerous…