East Manufacturing Gets Summary Judgment In Asbestos Case

East Manufacturing Gets Summary Judgment In Asbestos Case

Introduction

On December 16, the New York Supreme Court for New York County awarded summary judgment to East Manufacturing Corp., a trailer manufacturer, after finding that the plaintiffs' counsel failed to establish that the plaintiff’s decedent was exposed to asbestos from materials manufactured by the company.

The case at issue now involves the estate of a decedent who alleged that her husband was exposed to asbestos while performing mechanical work, specifically brake work, on a fleet of delivery trailers and vehicles from 1974 to 1976. The man was diagnosed with lung cancer on August 2, 2019, and he died on November 19, 2019.

East Manufacturing was identified as one of the manufacturers of trailers, whereas other manufacturers of the old brakes or the new brakes were not identified by the plaintiffs.

The company moved for a summary judgment arguing that it never designed, manufactured, distributed, or sold brakes; and that it had no duty to warn about the risks associated with the composition of any third-party manufactured aftermarket replacement brakes installed onto its trailers.

In the motion, the company contended that it has made a prima facie case demonstrating a lack of duty, breach, or causation and to dismiss complaints and all cross-claims against it.

The company also demonstrated that the case was similar to a case from 1992 involving Goodyear in which a New York Court of Appeals concluded that the company had no duty to warn about defective rims manufactured by another company.

Referring to the mentioned case, the court held that defendant’s knowledge of potentially dangerous products manufactured by another company did not create a duty to warn about it. The court granted the motion for summary judgment and noted that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that the company’s trailers could not be operated safely without asbestos brakes.

Recently, an analysis was also published in the journal Environmental Health Insights, stating that a lack of regulation and inadequate screening of talc-containing cosmetic products in the U.S. has resulted in asbestos contamination.

The lawsuits over talc-based products are also growing in numbers, each alleging that the users were exposed to talc and asbestos particles present in the products, which resulted in ovarian cancer and other injuries.