The welding industry saw two legal setbacks in separate appellate court cases that were decided in late December 2005.

On Dec. 20, an Illinois appellate court upheld a 2001, $1-million negligence and product liability award against Lincoln Electric Company, Hobart Brothers Company and Airco/The BOC Group, Inc. The liability award came from a four-week trial in which the jury found that manganese fumes from the companies' welding rods caused or contributed to central nervous system injury that later resulted in Parkinson's Disease in the plaintiffs who filed the suit.

On Dec. 29, a New York State appeals court affirmed the firstever jury finding that asbestoscontaining welding rods, that were sold in the billions until the early 1980s, had caused lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Until the early 1980s, the welding rods in question in the latter ruling were coated with a mixture containing 5 percent to 15 percent asbestos, according to trial testimony.

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, in a published decision, upheld the July 2003 jury verdict that awarded more than $6 million to the estates of the men who brought the suits.