S.C. Court Backtracks on Summary Judgment Award, Cites State Court Decision on ‘Bare Metal’ Defense

CHARLESTON, S.C. –– A South Carolina federal court has granted an asbestos plaintiff’s motion to reconsider an order awarding summary judgment to Goulds Pumps Inc., noting that a state court judge in charge of South Carolina’s asbestos docket has opined that the state Supreme Court would not adopt the bare metal defense.

In the Feb. 19 ruling, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina subsequently denied Goulds’ motion for summary judgment, opining that the decision from Judge D. Garrison Hill –– in which the judge found that a manufacturer is subject to a duty to warn about …