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C.A. Opts to Publish Opinion Delineating Causation Rule
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Div. One of the Court of Appeal for this district yesterday ordered publication of a June 4 opinion in which it reversed a $5.5 million judgment in a wrongful death case because the judge gave an instruction on causation in asbestos cases pursuant to California law, while the appeals court previously held that Michigan law had to be applied.
In differentiating Michigan’s view, Justice Victoria Chaney clarified California’s subtly conflicting approach.
The California rule is that asbestos exposure must be a “substantial factor contributing to an increased risk of a plaintiff’s injury,” she wrote, saying that this “is not the same thing as a substantial factor in producing the injury,” as required under Michigan law.
The case—Swanson v. The Marley-Wylain Co.—(reported on in the MetNews on June 8) appears in full in today’s Slip Opinion Supplement at Page 2745.
Publication was requested by the defendant, Marley-Wylain, and by the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel.
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