N.Y. High Court Says Ford USA Should Have Been Awarded Summary Judgment in Asbestos Case

ALBANY, N.Y. –– New York’s highest court has reversed an order affirming the denial of a motion for summary judgment in an asbestos case, concluding that Ford USA, as a parent company to Ford UK, could “not be held derivatively liable to the plaintiff under a theory of strict products liability” unless the defendant involved itself in a manner that would allow the corporate veil to be pierced.

In the May 3 opinion, the New York Court of Appeals said that the lower court’s finding of questions of fact as to whether Ford USA played a role in the design …