Product Liability -- 2016



CertainTeed Corp. v. Fletcher   (Georgia Supreme Court)

Liability of manufacturers for take-home occupational exposure of customer's employee to asbestos

The NAM filed an amicus brief in the Georgia Supreme Court opposing the expansion of product liability law and the assertion of a duty to warn household members of workers who may come into contact with asbestos. The plaintiffs in this case sought to hold manufacturers liable for failing to warn third party household members of workers at companies that use their products about asbestos risks. If successful, the litigation would have set adverse precedent and expose manufacturers to unlimited liability in asbestos litigation. The NAM’s brief argued that product manufacturers owe no duty of care to third party household members of employees exposed to asbestos through contact with occupationally exposed workers or contact with their clothes. In a win for manufacturers, the court properly denied what would have been a dramatic expansion of product liability law.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (March 14, 2016)