Source: https://www.gordonrees.com/publications/2013/massachusetts-no-liability-for-somebody-else-s-products
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 10:29:21+00:00

Document:
Massachusetts today joined other jurisdictions in holding that a defendant is not liable for the products of others – specifically, asbestos-containing gaskets, packing and insulation.
Whiting is therefore in line with similar decisions in asbestos cases in California (O’Neil v. Crane Co., 53 Cal. 4th 335, 342 (2012)); Washington (Braaten v. Saberhagen Holdings, 198 P.3d 493 (Wash. 2008) and Simonetta v. Viad Corp., 197 P.3d 127 (Wash. 2008)); Maryland (Ford Motor Co. v. Wood, 703 A.2d 1315 (Md.Ct.Spec.App. 1998) abrogated on other grounds in John Crane, Inc. v. Scribner, 800 A.2d 727 (Md. 2002)); and the 6th Circuit (Lindstrom v. A-C Product Liability Trust, 424 F.3d 488, 495-497(6th Cir. 2005)).
The case also involves some questionable ID testimony – the only witness had not seen decedent “working on the turbines, but he opined that Whiting would have removed and replaced asbestos gaskets and packing in Crane and Chapman valves and other equipment” – but that was not the court’s apparent focus so much as the “not the defendant’s products” rationale.
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