Lineaweaver

Appellants Robert Lineaweaver, Floyd King, and Ralph Ward brought actions against numerous asbestos suppliers seeking to recover for personal injuries sustained from their repeated exposure to asbestos insulation products. A bifurcated trial on the separate issues of damages and liability proceeded against a lone defendant, respondent Plant Insulation Company (Plant). A jury found each appellant to have suffered *1413 damages, but the trial court granted respondent’s nonsuit motion on the issue of liability, concluding that appellants failed to present sufficient evidence of exposure to respondent’s product. We also find insufficient evidence that appellants King and Ward were exposed to Plant-supplied asbestos and affirm judgment against them. However, we reverse judgment as to appellant Lineaweaver upon finding sufficient circumstantial evidence to support a reasonable inference of exposure.

Trial Court Proceedings

Appellants filed separate actions in 1989 against 41 asbestos süppliers for personal injuries sustained from their occupational exposure to asbestos. These three actions and others were consolidated for trial, and then trial bifurcated on the issues of…

Concurring. — The majority opinion adopts the following standard for determining whether exposure to a defendant’s product is a substantial factor in causing an asbestos-related disease: “is there a reasonable medical probability based upon competent expert testimony that the defendant’s conduct contributed to plaintiff’s injury.” The phrase, “reasonable medical probability,” derives from a line of medical malpractice cases. *1422 As Witkin observes, “In a medical malpractice case, the evidence must be sufficient to allow the jury to infer that, in the absence of the defendant’s negligence, there was a reasonable medical probability that the plaintiff would have obtained a better result.” (6 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (9th ed. 1988) § 967 p. 357; see also Duarte v. Zachariah (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 1652, 1658 [ 28 Cal.Rptr.2d 88 ]; Bromme v. Pavitt (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 1487, 1498 [ 7 Cal.Rptr.2d 608 ]; Dumas v. Cooney (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 1593, 1603 [ 1 Cal.Rptr.2d 584 ].)

Although the standard of “reasonable medical probability” was adopted in one decision involving a carcinogenic pharmaceutical (Jones v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. (1985) 163 Cal.App.3d 396, 402 [ 209 Cal.Rptr.…

Appellants Robert Lineaweaver, Floyd King, and Ralph Ward brought actions against numerous asbestos suppliers seeking to recover for personal injuries sustained from their repeated exposure to asbestos insulation products. A bifurcated trial on the separate issues of damages and liability proceeded against a lone defendant, respondent Plant Insulation Company (Plant). A jury found each appellant to have suffered damages, but the trial court granted respondent's nonsuit motion on the issue of liability, concluding that appellants failed to present sufficient evidence of exposure to respondent's product. We also find insufficient evidence that appellants King and Ward were exposed to Plant-supplied asbestos and affirm judgment against them. However, we reverse judgment as to appellant Lineaweaver upon finding sufficient circumstantial evidence to support a reasonable inference of exposure.

Appellants filed separate actions in 1989 against 41 asbestos suppliers for personal injuries sustained from their occupational exposure to asbestos. These three actions and others were consolidated for trial, and then trial bifurcated on the issues of injury and…