Morrison Mahoney Partner Ted Murphy received a defense verdict in a recent case for our client, a large defense contractor for the U.S. Navy.
Plaintiff, a recently retired employee, alleged that his exposure to loud noise as a machinist and plate shop mechanic at our client’s nuclear shipyard for 30 years worsened his already significant pre-employment hearing loss, thus making our client liable for his entire hearing impairment of over 70 percent under the “plaintiff-friendly” aggravation doctrine of the Longshore Act (33 U.S.C. Sec 901 et seq.), plus lifetime medical care, hearing aids, etc. With the help of two highly-regarded experts and our client’s state of the art hearing protection and safety program, Ted was able to convince the federal administrative law judge deciding the case that the gradual worsening of plaintiff’s hearing loss was not in any way related to his attenuated noise exposure, but rather the natural progression of his underlying audiological condition.
