Boren v. BOC Group

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 09/09/08. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-06-0679
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
_________________________________________________________________________
STEVEN A. BOREN, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Madison County.
)
v. ) No. 01-L-786, consolidated with
) Nos. 00-L-886 & 01-L-289
THE BOC GROUP, INC., ESAB GROUP, INC., )
LINCOLN ELECTRIC COMPANY, PRAXAIR, )
INC., SANDVICK, INC., TDY INDUSTRIES, INC., )
UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, and )
VIACOM, INC., ) Honorable
) Nicholas G. Byron,
Defendants-Appellants. ) Judge, presiding.
________________________________________________________________________
PRESIDING JUSTICE STEWART delivered the opinion of the court:
The defendants appeal an order of the circuit court of Madison County granting a new
trial in this cause. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
The plaintiff, Steven A. Boren, filed a complaint against multiple defendants, alleging
that his Parkinson's disease was the result of his exposure to welding fumes and that the
defendants failed to adequately warn of the neurological risks from manganese in welding
fumes. When the parties first attempted to select a jury in May of 2005, the circuit court
declared a mistrial when the parties agreed that an impartial jury could not be selected from
the prospective jurors. On October 24, 2005, the parties appeared in court for a pretrial
hearing prior to a second attempt at jury selection. The circuit court emphasized its concern
for a fair trial, and it warned the attorneys as follows:
"The Court advised the entire [previous] panel that we had that the Plaintiff