Exposure Can Be Inferred from Manufacturer's Sales Records, Court Says

SEATTLE - Sales records showing a shipyard's purchase of asbestos-containing products over several years are sufficient to support a plaintiff's inference of exposure, an appellate court has ruled in reversing summary judgment for a manufacturer in a take-home exposure suit. Allen v. Asbestos Corp., et al., No. 57723-9-I (Wash. Ct. App., Div. 1).

Judge H. Joseph Coleman, writing for a unanimous Washington Court of Appeals, said in a Feb. 12 opinion that the trial court erred in finding that plaintiff Gary Allen presented insufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Allen's father was exposed …