Gottschall v. Crane Co.
Annotate this CaseGottschall sued 18 defendants for allegedly causing him to develop an “asbestos-related disease” because of the products those defendants produced, and to which he was exposed by his work from 1957 to 1989 in shipyards and similar facilities. Gottschall died. His heirs filed an amended state court complaint against 17 of the defendants, including Crane, and filed a wrongful death and survival action in federal court against six defendants that had not been named in state court. The federal court granted General Dynamics summary judgment; it had been sued because it had supplied the U.S. Navy vessels with asbestos-containing materials. The court held that under California law the Navy was a “sophisticated user” of asbestos-containing material that had knowledge of asbestos hazards at the time of the alleged exposure. Crane moved for summary judgment in state court. Relying on the federal court’s decision, Crane contended that it, too, had supplied asbestos-containing products to the Navy, and that the heirs were collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue. The superior court granted Crane summary judgment. The court of appeal reversed, holding that the federal court’s resolution of the issue was wrong under California law, so that collateral estoppel does not apply.
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