Judge Says Borg-Warner Standards Applicable to Responsible Third Parties

HOUSTON -- The judge overseeing the Texas Asbestos MDL has concluded that defendants seeking to designate responsible third parties must establish causation under the state's revised standards in order to defeat summary judgment motions. In re: Asbestos Litigation, Cause No. 2004-03964 (MDL)

Multidistrict Litigation Asbestos Judge Mark Davidson, who presided over a global summary judgment hearing on the issue of whether defendants had to quantify dose with regard to responsible third parties in order to shift blame to them during trial, issued the ruling on Jan. 16.

"I have given a lot of reasons and done a lot of work …