Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley, who denied Chrysler's March 3 request to prevent Harold St. John being buried, affirmed that decision again on March 12. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Chrysler had already gotten a ruling from a previous appeal and delayed the interment of St. John on the day of his funeral, with his widow and children in attendance to witness the travesty.
St. John, 67, was in the process of suing Chrysler, Honeywell, and a dozen other companies in Middlesex County court for what he charged was work-induced mesothelioma as a result of his employment as a brake mechanic in his father's Jersey City auto repair shop during the 1950s through the 1960s.
Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that was used in brake pads, insulation, floor and roofing tiles, tile glues and some acoustical ceiling panels up to the 1970s, when health officials began to recognize a pattern of illnesses. Asbestos fibers, inhaled, cause lesions which lead to a number of diseases, most notably pleural mesothelioma, an almost incurable form of lung cancer that often doesn't manifest for three or more decades, by which time the prognosis is very poor. Most people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma die within eighteen months.
St. John died on Feb. 28, mere days before the March 2 trial was due to start. During his funeral, a Chrysler company spokesman, Michael Palese, waited with a court order in hand. Immediately before St. John's body was placed in the ground, Palese presented his order, terminating the final disposition of St. John's body, to the horror and sorrow of family members, who say the move was a delaying tactic, since St. John had already undergone a lung biopsy while still alive.
According to Palese, the company didn't intend any disrespect, adding that the kind of evidence sought (by an autopsy) is the sort "regularly used by expert witnesses in asbestos lawsuits", and that numerous studies have "refuted the link between automotive products and asbestos-related diseases".
Both Palese and Honeywell spokeswoman Victoria Streitfeld extended their condolences, on behalf of their companies, to the St. John family. This did little to appease the outrage. Judge Paley's March 12 upholding of his earlier ruling, denying the autopsy based on the religious and moral objections of the St. John family, did.
This ruling, which said that the religious and moral objections superseded the company's need for information, pointed out that, had St. John lived to see his day in court, the companies would have had to proceed with their cases without the benefit of whatever medical evidence an autopsy provided. Thus their cases were not materially impacted by the lack of autopsy.
The panel advising Judge Paley's decision, St. John v. Affinia Group, affirmed on March 18 his negative autopsy ruling but not the religious objection portion, stating that mere assertion of an objection was insufficient and would "allow litigants to thwart completely and without justification a proper request".
However it was arrived at, the ruling seems a vindication for the St. John family, who can now bury their loved one, and for the American people. It is a clear rejection of corporate ruthlessness. Chrysler, facing bankruptcy, could surely have proceeded without the autopsy, and has now garnered the sort of PR likely to make future auto sales uncertain even if it survives bankruptcy.
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