Collin

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brought a personal injury action against 22 defendants, alleging that Loren developed peritoneal mesothelioma because of occupational exposure to defendants’ products or activities from 1955 through 1957 and 1959 through the 1990’s. CalPortland, Kaiser Gypsum, J-MM and Formosa are among the named defendants in plaintiff’s lawsuit. The complaint alleges counts for negligence, strict liability, false representation, intentional tort/failure to warn, alter ego and loss of consortium. CalPortland and Kaiser Gypsum separately moved for summary judgment, while J-MM and Formosa separately moved for summary judgment or summary adjudication. Each defendant said plaintiff cannot establish that Loren was exposed to an asbestos- containing product for which the defendant is responsible. CalPortland argued that despite several opportunities to state facts supporting his claims, Loren did not say he was exposed to “Colton gun plastic cement,” which was the only asbestos-containing cement CalPortland manufactured and sold. Plaintiff responded that a trier of fact could infer from the similarities between the plastic cement product Loren said he encountered on jobsites, and…