Court Opinion

ID: 9736551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:59:32.151549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:07.328598
License: Public Domain

BARNES, Judge,
concurring in result with separate opinion.
I concur in the result reached by the majority, namely, the reversal of summary judgment in favor of the defendants based upon the product liability act statute of repose. I do believe it is necessary to address the constitutionality of the statute of repose as applied in this case, as we recently did in Jurich v. Anchor Packing Co. et al., 759 N.E.2d 1066 (Ind.Ct.App.2001). There, we held the exception to the statute of repose for actions against "persons who mined and sold commercial asbestos" was not intended to apply to sellers of asbestos-containing products, but only sellers of "raw" or processed asbestos that is incorporated into other products. Op., p. 1070-71. Here, it appears as in Jurich that these particular defendants did not sell "commercial asbestos" but only asbestos-containing products; hence, the exception to the statute of repose was not intended to apply to them.
Nevertheless, we went on to hold in Jwrich that application of the statute of repose would violate Article I, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution in cases "where a plaintiff is injured by an asbestos-containing product either by exposure to asbestos fibers before the enactment of the [product liability act, or 1978], and/or where there is no evidence the product was more than ten years old at the time the plaintiff was exposed to asbestos fibers contained in the product." Op., p. 1077. That appears to be the case in this instance. The various plaintiffs allegedly inhaled asbestos from defendants' products beginning between 1942 and 1960, and alternatively there is no evidence the products were more than ten years old when the plaintiffs were allegedly exposed to asbestos contained in the products. Thus, I would hold that application of the statute of repose in this instance would violate Article I, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution and reverse summary judgment in favor of the defendants on that basis.