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Court halts IBM cancer cases

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CIOL Bureau
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SAN FRANCISCO: A California judge has temporarily halted the proceedings of about 50 toxic chemical exposure claims against IBM pending the selection of a third-party mediator, according to court records.



Judge Robert Baines of the Santa Clara County Superior Court also ordered the parties to "meet and confer and promptly select" a mediator, according to the documents, which were dated Monday.



The move comes a week after International Business Machines Corp. prevailed in an employee toxic exposure suit in the same courtroom, and a day after IBM settled a birth defect-related claim in New York.



IBM faces about 200 cancer and other lawsuits in New York and California by current and former employees who claim their exposure to workplace chemicals gave them cancer or caused their children to be born with birth defects.



"This court has determined that, with the first trial now completed, the time is opportune for all parties to participate in further discussions aimed at resolution of all matters coordinated herein," Baines wrote in an order.



"All proceedings in the coordinated actions are hereby ordered stayed until further order of this court," the order said.



© Reuters

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