Summary Judgment for Lack of Proof That Chrysotile Exposure Caused Mesothelioma

We prepared the briefing and presented oral arguments in a 2017 Maryland federal court case resulting in a decision important to the law of causation in asbestos cases.  In Rockman v. Union Carbide Corp., et al., the plaintiff claimed that bystander exposure as a child to joint compound containing chrysotile asbestos caused his peritoneal mesothelioma.  The Court excluded the plaintiff’s expert testimony and granted summary judgment for our client Georgia-Pacific.

The court firmly rejected theories often proposed by plaintiffs in asbestos cases seeking to establish causation by all asbestos exposures, no matter how minimal.  Instead, the court required reliable studies showing that the level of exposures at issue had resulted in increased incidence of the disease claimed by the plaintiff.

Explaining why scientific evidence in an asbestos case must address the specific mineral type of asbestos to which the plaintiff claimed exposure, the court affirmed a principle significant to defendants whose products contained chrysotile asbestos rather than the less commonly used asbestos minerals.