Kimbra Gottschall v. General Dynamics Corporation

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs Kimbra Gottschall, Debra Ga-ball, Raymond Gottschall, Robert W. Gottschall, and Ronald Gottschall appeal the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Defendants General Dynamics Corporation and Huntington Ingalls, Inc. We vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.

The California Supreme Court has recently made clear that the summary judgment entered by the district court, in reliance on a decision by the multidistrict litigation court in Pennsylvania, was based on an incorrect understanding of California law. In Webb v. Special Electric Co., Inc., 63 Cal.4th 167, 189-90 , 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 460 , 370 P.3d 1022 (2016), the California Supreme Court held:

In light of Webb and the California Supreme Court’s dismissal of a petition for review in Gottschall v. Crane Co., 230 Cal.App.4th 1115 , 179 Cal.Rptr.3d 39 (2014), dismissed and remanded by 203 Cal.Rptr.3d 665 , 373 P.3d 471 (Cal. 2016), we conclude that the summary judgment based on this theory must be vacated.

The district court never ruled on Defendants’ government contractor defense. Defendants argue it to us as an alternative basis to affirm the summary judgment, but genuine disputes of…