York Corporation Witness Deposition

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CAUSE NO. 2005-11196 PAUL SYKES and BONNIE SYKES, Plaintiffs, ) IN THE DISTRICT COURT ) ) ) ) HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS ) ) ) ) 11TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
AMERICAN STANDARD, ET AL., Defendants.
********************************************* 8 ORAL DEPOSITION OF 9 FRED ZIFFER 10 DECEMBER 15, 2005 11 CONFIDENTIAL 12 ********************************************** 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ORAL DEPOSITION OF FRED ZIFFER, produced as a witness at the instance of the Plaintiffs, and duly sworn, was taken in the above-styled and numbered cause on the 15th of December, 2005, from 9:10 to 11:40, before Susan S. Klinger, CSR in and for the State of Texas, reported by stenographic method, at 5420 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1900, Dallas, Texas, pursuant to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and the provisions stated on the record or attached hereto.
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(Exhibit Nos. 1 - 4 marked.) FRED ZIFFER, having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: EXAMINATION BY MR. WOLF: Q. Sir, could you go ahead and state your name for the record, please? MS. PHIFER: I assume we get to get our agreements on the record? MR. WOLF: Yes. MS. PHIFER: Texas rules, one objection is good for all defendants present? MR. WOLF: Agreed. A. Fred Ziffer. Q. Okay. Mr. Ziffer, my name is Troyce Wolf. I'm with the law firm of Water & Kraus. I think we just met a few minutes ago. A. Correct. Q. You understand that you are giving a deposition today as the corporate representative of York International Corporation? A. I do. Q. Okay. Just a few background preliminary matters. First of all, could you go ahead and state your address, sir?
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addressed the adverse health effects of asbestos? A. I'm not aware of that. Q. I'm assuming York didn't have anyone that attended that conference, to your knowledge? A. I have no knowledge of that. Q. Do you know whether York Corporation was familiar with any of the articles published by Dr. Irving Selikoff about asbestos exposure published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1964? A. I have no knowledge of that. Q. Was York International Corporation ever a member of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation? A. I have no knowledge of that. Q. No knowledge of that? A. No. Q. At any time, Mr. Ziffer, did York Corporation publish a warning with regard to its compressors that removing or disturbing the asbestos-containing gaskets could be dangerous? A. None that I'm aware of. Q. And a follow-up to that, did York ever include any statements to that effect in its manual or other literature that it sold with the compressors? A. None that I'm aware of. Q. I'm assuming that York never gave any warning to
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its customers or employees to be careful of handling asbestos-containing products inside the equipment, the compressors? MS. PHIFER: Object to form. MR. WOLF: What's the basis? MS. PHIFER: You just said you assume. Q. Did York ever give a warning to its customers or employees to be careful in handling asbestos-containing products associated with its H, F, and J compressors at any time? A. None that I'm aware of. Q. Did York ever take any steps to publish in any manner a warning that using, removing, or disturbing the asbestos-containing gaskets inside the compressors could be dangerous? A. None that I'm aware of. Q. And was York's name stamped or imprinted on the H, F, and J series compressors? A. There is a nameplate attached to the compressor. Q. Where was that nameplate located? A. I would have to look at the record. Q. That's fine. But you are familiar that a nameplate was actually attached to the compressor? A. As shipped, there was a nameplate attached to it. Q. At any point in time, did York advise its