Wash. High Court Reverses Summary Judgment for 3 Respirator Defendants

OLYMPIA, Wash. –– The Washington Supreme Court has reversed summary judgment for several respirator mask defendants, rejecting the application of recent toxic tort rulings and opining that it is important that those decisions not be “overread to result in new rules for product manufacturers.”

The high court held Aug. 9 that it did not matter that the respirator mask defendants were not in the chain of distribution of the asbestos-containing products since they were in the chain of distribution of the respirators, which are the unsafe product in the instant case.

“Simonetta and Braaten do not control because unlike …