U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Take on Dispute Over Whether Maritime Law Recognizes Bare Metal Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to examine a dispute involving the question of whether products-liability defendants can be held liable under maritime law for injuries caused by products they did not make, sell, or distribute.

The nation’s highest court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari on May 14.

The petition was filed last year by CBS Corp.; in it, the defendant asked the high court to address a circuit split on the underlying issue. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the defendant said, denied such a duty existed under maritime law. The …