Articles

The outer limits of the blame game

October 23, 2013 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

William Aubin contracted mesothelioma in 2008, allegedly from working with joint compound and texture sprays produced by Georgia Pacific, and provided by Aubin’s employer.  Those products contained asbestos, but Aubin alleged that their packaging did not warn users to wear masks to protect them from inhaling the product’s dangerous dus ...

Articles

Drawing a line

April 25, 2014 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Tort law allows injured people to sue the person or company that caused the injury.  The question of who “caused” the injury, however, has filled volumes of legal reports.  In the context of asbestos litigation, where the companies that manufactured asbestos-containing products long ago went bankrupt, plaintiffs suffering from asbesto ...

Articles

Florida Supreme Court “splits the baby” in products liability decision

October 29, 2015 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today, the Florida Supreme Court issued its opinion in Aubin v. Union Carbide, a case that recognizes limits to manufacturers’ liability. William Aubin brought the lawsuit after he contracted mesothelioma in 2008, allegedly from working with asbestos-containing joint compound and texture sprays produced by Georgia Pacific, and provided by Aub ...

Articles

California Supreme Court’s narrow ruling on the component parts doctrine

June 23, 2016 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Flavio Ramos worked as a mold maker, machine operator, and laborer for Supreme Casting & Pattern, Inc., which manufactured metal parts through “a foundry and fabrication process,” from 1972 to 2009. During this time, the industrial processing of raw materials created fumes from molten metal and dust from the plaster, sand, limestone ...

Articles

Weekly litigation report — June 24, 2015

June 24, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Equality under the law project — loss at the Supreme Court San Francisco still trying to use landlords as ATMs California Department of Forestry malfeasance California Supreme Court allows questionable tort claim to move forward Equality under the law project — loss at the Supreme Court Our side lost in Fisher v. University of Texas &# ...