Shiffer

In this asbestos case, plaintiffs James Shiffer and his wife sued CBS Corporation, whose predecessor, Westinghouse, provided a turbine set and asbestos-containing insulation for a power plant where Shiffer worked for several months in 1969 and 1970. The trial court granted summary judgment to CBS. We affirm. Plaintiffs failed to produce evidence raising a triable issue that Shiffer suffered bystander exposure to Westinghouse asbestos while at the plant. The trial court also properly denied plaintiffs’ motions for reconsideration and a new trial, because evidence of potential harm from re-entrainment of asbestos was not new and could have been presented in opposition to the original summary judgment motion.

Background

Plaintiffs sued numerous entities that allegedly caused Shiffer to be exposed to asbestos, eventually resulting in his developing mesothelioma. As to defendant CBS, they alleged Shiffer was exposed to asbestos-containing materials at the Ginna power plant in Rochester, New York, in the summer of 1969. Shifter’s then employer, Pacific Gas & Electric, had sent him to Ginna in July of that year to train employees on the operation of Westinghouse equipment…