Calif. Supreme Court Upholds Dismissal of Dissolved Company Named as Asbestos Defendant

SAN FRANCISCO –– The California Supreme Court has upheld an intermediate appellate court holding that an asbestos defendant that dissolved under Delaware law is not a foreign company under California’s survival statute.

In the Feb. 21 decision, the state’s high court opined that California’s survival statute should “properly be interpreted to apply to domestic corporations only.”

The plaintiffs asserted the underlying claims on behalf of Walter Greb, whose death was allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos-containing products. The plaintiffs named Diamond International Corp. as a defendant in the case, citing unexhausted liability insurance that covered the now-dissolved company when …