EDWARDSVILLE – In a court system reputed to be a judicial hellhole, Lucifer also bows to Madison County justice.
Lucifer Furnaces of Warrington, Pa. currently defends three asbestos suits in circuit court and has obtained 23 dismissals in seven years.
The name jumps out from a mass of Madison County defendants that lawyers Mark Behrens and Mary Margaret Gay estimated at 900 in an April 29 report on litigation reform.
Their report asserts that plaintiffs started suing smaller businesses after asbestos producers declared bankruptcy and created trusts to pay claims.
Lucifer Furnaces fits the low profile.
It doesn’t file anything with the Securities Exchange Commission, and no one has sued it in its own county.
An employee sued Lucifer at U.S. district court in Philadelphia in 2018, in a handicap accommodation dispute, and settled in six months.
Pennsylvania records identify Lawrence Jones as president, Lucille Jones as treasurer, Virginia Jones as secretary, and Wyatt Jones as vice president.
Lucifer’s website bills it as a leading manufacturer of industrial furnaces and ovens for more than 65 years.
“As a small, family owned business, Lucifer Furnaces focuses on building quality small to medium size heat treating furnaces, ovens and kilns,” its website states.
It states that they ship equipment worldwide for metal working and manufacture of ceramics and glass.
It states that the economical “Red Devil” series has met the needs of occasional heat treaters for more than three decades.
“All Lucifer furnaces are ruggedly constructed using the highest quality materials to deliver superior performance and dependability,” it states.
All claims against Lucifer have come from John Simmons’s firm except one that came from Steven Rineberg of the Maune Rauchle firm.