December 20, 2012
Nevada Supreme Court, rejecting onerous asbestos dose standards applied by some courts, overturns defendants’ summary judgment
Addressing the asbestos causation standard for the very first time, justices for the Supreme Court of Nevada handed down a landmark decision on December 6, 2012, in favor of plaintiffs. Applying a causation standard which rejects stringent standards applied by some courts, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment that had been granted by the trial court for manufacturers of asbestos-containing joint compounds in Holcomb et al vs. Georgia Pacific, LLC, et al.
Randy Holcomb, who died of mesothelioma, was exposed to asbestos-containing joint-compound products manufactured by Kelly-Moore, Kaiser Gypsum and Georgia-Pacific while working as a construction laborer in the early 1970s. The strict standards applied by some courts impose virtually impossible burdens of showing specific doses of asbestos attributable to a defendant, even though those exposures occurred decades ago and without any monitoring of asbestos levels. The Nevada Supreme Court found such a test is “too stringent” and “overburdens the claimant” because of the inability of most claimants to show particularized doses.
Paul Cook, attorney for the Holcomb plaintiffs and partner at Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel, said this is a “great causation opinion from the Court. We are very pleased with this favorable decision and what it means for our clients and future victims of mesothelioma.”
Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel is a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ firm concentrating on complex product liability and personal injury/wrongful death cases. The firm’s diverse practice includes asbestos and mesothelioma litigation, Love Canal litigation, qui tam whistleblower matters, birth and childhood injury cases, as well as pharmaceutical and medical product liability litigation. With offices in California, Texas, and Maryland, Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel has litigated cases in jurisdictions across the United States on behalf of individuals from all 50 states, as well as foreign governments. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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