Asbestos Product ID Evidence Too Vague to Create Fact Issue, Court Holds

SAN FRANCISCO - Speculation that a plaintiff might have cut into a wall that might have exposed him to a joint compound that might have been manufactured by a defendant and possibly contained asbestos is not enough to create a triable issue of fact, a California appeals court has held. McGonnell v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., et al., No. A095447 (Calif. Ct. App., First Dist.).

Affirming a lower court decision to award summary judgment to defendant Kaiser Gypsum and Kaiser Cement, the First District Court of Appeal said such evidence - or lack thereof - creates only a "dwindling stream …