Evans

INTRODUCTION

Kenneth Evans was diagnosed with asbestosis after a decades-long career working for Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas). For about 35 percent of his employment, Evans worked alongside contractors who helped build and replace gas pipelines; some of those pipelines were covered in a coating that contained asbestos. Evans and his wife, remaining plaintiff *1026 Dorothy Evans (together, plaintiffs), sued several contractors, alleging that they contributed to Evans’s asbestosis. By the end of the trial, the only remaining defendant was respondent Hood Corporation (Hood Corporation or Hood), and the only remaining cause of action was negligence. The jury found that Hood’s conduct exposed Evans to asbestos, but that Hood was not negligent. A defense judgment was entered, and plaintiffs appealed. Kenneth Evans died during the pendency of the appeal.

Plaintiff argues that the court erred by (1) excluding two exhibits containing SoCalGas specifications for contractors, (2) allowing the president of Hood to use a contract from an irrelevant time period to refresh his recollection about the content of earlier contracts, and (3) giving the jury two erroneous…