Buford v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Indinar and Tony Buford filed this diversity suit in the district court claiming that Indinar suffered long-term effects from exposure to benzene during the course of her employment as a lab technician at defendant Bell Telephone Laboratories’ (BTL), Shadeland, Indiana facility, and that Tony experienced a loss of consortium due to his wife’s illness. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on the ground that plaintiffs’ common law remedies were preempted by the Indiana Occupational Diseases Act. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I