Court Adopts 'Frequency, Regularity and Proximity' Standard in Asbestos Case

JACKSON Miss. -- The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled that an asbestos plaintiff failed to demonstrate he was exposed to an asbestos-containing product manufactured by defendant Gorman-Rupp Co. and reversed a trial court's denial of summary judgment to the pump manufacturer. Gorman-Rupp Co. v. Bobby G. Hall, et al., No. 2004-IA-01021-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct.).

In an Aug. 11 decision, the high court applied Lohrmann v Pittsburgh Corning Corp., (782 F, 2d 1156, 1986), a Fourth Circuit opinion in which the frequency, regularity and proximity standard was applied in the context of summary judgment for asbestos cases.

'We find that the …