Opinion ID: 2635992
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Federal Decisions

Text: The federal courts took notice of Fierro and predicted that this court would eventually adopt the sophisticated user defense. In an important products liability action filed in the Northern District of California, the plaintiffs were insulators and shipyard workers employed by the United States Navy during varying periods. In the course of their employment with the Navy, plaintiffs were allegedly exposed to asbestos products manufactured by defendants. Plaintiffs claim[ed] that defendants' asbestos products caused injury to them. ( In re Asbestos, supra, 543 F.Supp. at p. 1150.) The defendants claimed that the Navy was negligent in failing to provide plaintiffs with a safe work place and that this negligence constituted a superseding cause sufficient to relieve defendants of liability. (Ibid.) The court agreed that the sophisticated user defense applied to strict liability claims and refused to grant the plaintiffs' motion to strike the defense. (Ibid.) The court believed the highest California court would permit the defense. The federal court recognized, however, that under California law the plaintiffs could undercut the application of the sophisticated user defense by demonstrating that the defendants might have foreseen the Navy's alleged negligence, and so, it should not absolve them of liability. ( Id. at pp. 1150-1151.) [5] In re Asbestos, supra, 543 F.Supp. at page 1151 pointed, out that the defendants also asserted that the Navy was a `sophisticated user's asbestos products that is, that the Navy as an employer, was as aware of the dangers of asbestos as were defendants and that the Navy nonetheless misused of the products, thereby absolving the defendants of liability for failure to warn the Navy's employees of the products' dangers. Various federal courts that have applied state law under diversity jurisdiction have allowed the sophisticated user defense. (See, e.g., In re Air Crash Disaster, supra, 86 F.3d at pp. 521-522 [applying sophisticated user defense in finding no negligence for manufacturer's failure to warn of danger in aircraft warning system]; Bradco Oil & Gas Co. v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. (5th Cir. 1976) 532 F.2d 501, cert. den. (1977) 429 U.S. 1095, 97 S.Ct. 1111, 51 L.Ed. 542 [sophisticated user defense applied in a strict liability case]; In re Asbestos, supra, 543 F.Supp. at p. 1151.) Although federal circuit and district court decisions interpreting state law are not binding on our court, we find their reasoning persuasive in adopting the sophisticated user defense in our jurisdiction. (See People v. Bradley (1969) 1 Cal.3d 80, 86, 81 Cal.Rptr. 457, 460 P.2d 129.)