Judge Finds 11th-Hour Affidavit Insufficient to Avoid Summary Judgment

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - An asbestos plaintiff's unexplained 'resurgence of memory' to recall a defendant company's name in an 11th-hour affidavit is a transparent and insufficient attempt to frustrate the defendant's summary judgment motion, a Rhode Island judge ruled in granting the motion. Bell, et al. v. Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corp., et al., No. PC 05-6215 (R.I. Super. Ct., Providence Cty.).

On Oct. 31, Associate Justice Alice Bridget Gibney of the Providence County Superior Court awarded summary judgment to Rockbestos-Surprenant Cable Corp.

The justice noted that plaintiff Peter Bell waited seven months after the last of his four depositions and until just …