ORLANDO, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Autism is among the disorders that lawyers can't prove to be caused by a Florida Lockheed Martin plant.
U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton made that decision on March 11 in a lawsuit alleging multiple substances released at an Orlando plant caused various illnesses among residents living near it.
Dalton recently threw out the testimony of one of the plaintiff experts, which dismissed the claims of those blaming Lockheed Martin for their multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.
His latest ruling concerns Dr. Donald Mattison, a reproductive medicine doctor and tosses claims made by five of 10 plaintiffs affected by his testimony. Mattison will not be allowed to testify that substances at the plant caused autism and chromosomal disorders DiGeorge syndrome and ectodermal dysplasia.
"While Dr. Mattison's overall methodology is largely reliable, the science underlying these particular opinions is just not there," Dalton wrote.
"Though Dr. Mattison overwhelmingly cited statistically significant studies, the few times he relied on statistically insignificant findings primarily concerned autism. And several of the authors advocated more caution in interpreting their results than Dr. Mattison used."
Six substances are of issue when it comes to Mattison's testimony: PCE, TCE, toluene, xylenes, formaldehyde and styrene. They are alleged to have caused various birth defects and reproductive issues.
Mattison will be allowed to present evidence they caused the some health problems present in the remaining affected five plaintiffs like clubfoot, hypoplastic heart syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome and cleft palate.
Several similar cases have been filed. This one was brought by T. Michael Morgan of Morgan & Morgan on behalf of 60 plaintiffs.