William S. Cline
Product Liability & Tort Litigation - Experience
Clyde Wessel/David Schrolucke v. Auglaize Farmers Cooperative, Inc.
Case No. 2005 CV 103
Auglaize County Court of Common Pleas
Day Ketterer attorneys William S. Cline and R. Clint Zollinger, Jr. obtained a defense verdict on behalf of The Timken Company in a products liability case arising out of a grain dust explosion in a feed mill elevator in New Bremen, Ohio. The jury's verdict was returned after a two week trial in Auglaize County, Ohio. The plaintiffs, two workers who were seriously burned as a result of the explosion and resulting fireball, alleged that bearing components were defectively manufactured by Timken and were a cause of a failure of a pillow block bearing that supported an elevator leg at the mill. Plaintiffs alleged that one of the bearings overheated and ignited the grain dust. Plaintiffs were seeking $15 million in damages from Timken and the manufacturer of the pillow block bearing, Emerson Power Transmission. Plaintiffs' claim against both defendants was based on products liability and negligence theories. This extensive lawsuit spanned three years and involved more than 40 depositions, numerous site inspections, and the testimony of multiple experts in the fields of engineering, economics, metallurgy, cause and origin, and medicine. Cline and Zollinger established a strong defense for Timken by focusing on the metallurgical evidence that proved that Timken's bearing products were not defective, the subject bearing did not reach the temperatures claimed by the expert for the plaintiffs, and were not the proximate cause of the grain dust explosion. After nearly 100 hours of often complex scientific testimony, the jury deliberated for only five hours before rendering their unanimous verdict that neither Timken nor co-defendant Emerson was liable for the unfortunate injuries sustained by the plaintiffs.
Attorney William Cline