Court Finds No Connection Between Navy Worker's Claims and Helicopter Work

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge remanded the asbestos claims of a former U.S. Navy worker after finding that the removing defendant improperly relied on the federal officer statute for removal. Baker v. Asbestos Defendants, et al., No. C 04-2066 SBA (N.D. Calif.).

In a Sept. 27 decision, Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that plaintiff Tom Baker has declared that his claims against removing defendant Textron Lycoming relate in no way to exposure to asbestos from Textron's helicopters that were sold to the U.S. Navy. Therefore, Judge Armstrong said, …