Smith v. EXXON MOBIL OIL CORP.

This appeal is from a judgment of wrongful death in which liability was established by application of the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Relying on findings of liability in an earlier personal injury action against it, the trial court precluded defendant and appellant ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (Mobil) from presenting any defense to respondents’ claims of exposure to asbestos, negligence, causation, and allocation of fault. The case went to the jury solely on the issue of damages.

Appellant claims collateral estoppel was erroneously applied because (1) through no fault of its own, it was unable to present a full defense in the earlier action, and (2) intervening decisions of the California Supreme Court changed the controlling legal standards and the new standards were not considered in the prior proceeding.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Respondents’ decedent, George R. Smith, a plumber and pipefitter, was exposed to asbestos at numerous jobsites from 1948 to 1982. For about six months in 1966 and 1967, Smith worked at Mobil’s refinery in Torrance as an employee of Procon, an independent contractor hired by Mobil to construct an addition to the refinery immediately…