California Appeals Court Reverses $3 Million Asbestos Premises Verdict

SAN FRANCISCO - A trial court's failure to instruct a jury on a premises owner's limited duty to protect an employee of an independent contractor from exposure to asbestos likely affected a verdict awarded to the plaintiff and constitutes prejudicial error, a California appeals Court has ruled. Kinsman v. Unocal Corp., No. A093424 (Calif. Ct. App., First Dist.).

In a decision released July 18, the First District California Court of Appeal reversed the verdict against premises owner Unocal Corp., determining that the jury should not have found for the plaintiff when it also determined that Unocal did not retain control …