Beryllium Sensitization (Without More) Not a Disease or Cognizable Tort Injury

See

Parker v. Brush Wellman, 420 F. Supp. 2d 1355 (N.D. Ga. 2006)

Creative plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to push the outer edge of the envelope in their assertion of "injury" and the quest for a hold on corporate purse strings. On March 10, 2006, however, a federal judge ruled that beryllium sensitivity is not a compensable injury under Georgia law, notwithstanding plaintiffs’" commendable job" of trying to convince him otherwise.

Torts at a Microscopic Level

Parker

involved a putative class action on behalf of otherwise asymptomatic individuals seeking recovery for "sub-clinical,cellular, and sub-cellular damages"supposedly caused by exposure to respirable beryllium residues associated with the manufacture or use of products containing beryllium in the course of work at a Lockheed Martin Corporation facility in Georgia. Id. at 1356. In March 2005,on defendants’motion to dismiss and for judgment on the pleadings, the court ruled that Georgia law did not recognize such effects as