New Trial Ordered In Nye Asbestos Case

Posted October 16, 2009

Three judges of the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled unanimously Wednesday that the family of a former DuPont retiree who died from mesothelioma is entitled to a new trial because of errors in how the trial court instructed the jury on the law.

After a two-week trial in Hamilton County Circuit Court in the Spring of 2008, the jury returned a verdict that was favorable in part to the family of the late Hugh Todd Nye’s family. However, the jury ultimately ruled in favor of the defendant, North Brothers, due, according to the Court of Appeals, instructions from the judge.

The case is Evelyn Nye, individually and as surviving spouse of Mr. Nye v. Bayer Cropscience and others.

According to the 22-page opinion by the Court of Appeals, Mr. Nye worked at the DuPont facility in Chattanooga from 1948-1985. Although numerous companies were originally involved in the lawsuit, the only defendant left in the case at the time of trial was North Brothers, an asbestos products supplier to DuPont.
Mrs. Nye and the Nye family are represented by attorney Jimmy Rodgers with the law firm of Summers & Wyatt in Chattanooga, along with attorneys John Guerry and Benjamin Cunningham from the Motley Rice law firm of Charleston, S.C.

North Brothers was represented by attorneys Hugh Bright, Michael King, and Robert Vance from the Woolf McClane firm out of Knoxville.