Category: Toxic Torts

New Jersey Reverses Course on Bare Metals Defense

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The New Jersey Appellate Division recently published an opinion significantly affecting asbestos litigation and defenses available to certain product manufacturers. In Whelan v. Armstrong International Inc., No. A-3520-13T4 (Aug. 6, 2018) the court changed the landscape related to the “bare metal defense,” breaking from prior law regarding the scope of a manufacturer’s liability for injuries caused by exposure to asbestos-containing components or replacement parts in their products supplied by third parties.

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To Toll or Not to Toll? An Unsettling Answer

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Resolving a split among the intermediate appellate courts, the California Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that dramatically extends the period to file suit for birth defects in toxic tort cases. In Lopez v. Sony Electronics, Inc., No. S235357 (Cal. 7/5/18), the court held that these cases, already subject to tolling under the delayed discovery rule, are also tolled during the period of the plaintiff’s minority. The limitations clock does not even start to tick until at least the plaintiff’s eighteenth birthday.

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