OCT. 8–SANTA CLARA, Calif.–IBM Corp say it will ask an appeals court to dismiss the cases of two former employees who say they contracted cancer at a disk drive plant.

IBM attorney David DiMeglio said California’s Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District “ought to weigh in” on whether there is enough evidence for cases brought by former workers James Moore and Alida Hernandez for a jury trial.

Superior Court Judge Robert Baines denied IBM’s motion to delay the cases pending the appeal. The workers’ cases would be the first of hundreds of similar cases filed in California, New York and Minnesota that claim Armonk, New York-based PC giant didn’t warn them toxic chemicals used at the company’s plants could cause cancer.

Moore has Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Hernandez suffers from breast cancer. Their attorney, Richard Alexander, said IBM was trying to stall. “IBM does not want this case in front of the public because of their outrageous treatment of their workers,” Alexander said.

Baines last week ruled there were “triable issues” in the five-year-old case. The trial will begin Oct. 14.