OXFORD, Miss, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scruggs Law Firm's David
 Shelton gave this statement on the verdict issued today in the Welding Fume
 Products Liability Litigation in the Northern District of Ohio:
 
     On behalf of Jeff and Terry Tamraz, we are overjoyed that the jury
 found in our favor and that the welding industry is finally being held
 accountable for years of concealing the hazards of welding fumes from the
 general public.
 
     The welding industry, and Lincoln Electric in particular, have known
 since the 1930s that exposure to welding fumes can cause neurological
 injury. However, as the jury found in this case, the welding industry
 failed to warn hardworking welders like Mr. Tamraz of this risk or instruct
 them on how to avoid it.
 
     Instead, the welding manufacturers, like the asbestos and tobacco
 industries before it, chose to conceal the risks of welding fumes because
 the welding industry feared that it would go out of business if it was
 truthful with its welders.
 
     In furtherance of this plan, the welding industry engaged in a
 concerted effort to pervert, conceal, manipulate, and twist the science
 linking exposure to its products with brain injury like that suffered by
 Mr. Tamraz.
 
     This jury heard for the first time that the industry even went so far
 as to pay for bogus scientific studies and biased medical articles written
 by industry-paid hired guns to attempt to dispute the scientifically proven
 link between welding fume exposure and neurological injury. This is the
 same thing that happened in Vioxx and other pharmaceutical cases.
 
     Fortunately, the federal court jury in Cleveland, Ohio -- Lincoln
 Electric's hometown -- saw through the welding industry's years of
 deception and found them liable to Mr. Tamraz and his wife for $20.5
 million.
 
     As pleased as we are with the verdict, we cannot get over the fact that
 Mr. Tamraz is very sick and will be severely disabled for the rest of his
 life. Although it is too late to help Mr. Tamraz, it is our hope and
 expectation that this verdict will serve as a wakeup call to the welding
 industry and will assist the thousands of welders who suffer from brain
 injuries similar to Mr. Tamraz.
 
     We are proud to have worked with the following attorneys on this
 litigation: Rick Davis of Rhoden Lacy & Colbert; Don Barrett and Richard
 Barrett of Barrett Law Office; and John Climaco, John Peca, Dawn
 Chmielewski, and Lisa Gorshe of Climaco, Lefkowitz, Peca, Wilcox &
 Garofoli.
 
     Contact: David Shelton of Scruggs Law Firm
 
 

               +1-662-281-1212
 
 
 

SOURCE Scruggs Law Firm