Empire Abrasives Asks Appeals Court to Recognize Sophisticated User Doctrine

NEW ORLEANS - A blasting pot manufacturer whose motions for summary judgment based on the sophisticated user doctrine and other failure-to-warn related defenses were denied by a Louisiana trial judge has challenged the rulings in a state appellate court. Mullins, et al. v. Mississippi Valley Silica Company Inc., et al., No. 2008-C-0382 (La. Ct. App., 4th Cir.).

In an application for supervisory writs filed April 3 in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, Empire Abrasive Equipment Company contends that inadequate warning claims asserted by plaintiff Wardell Mullins should fail because the plaintiff has conceded that Empire's products are not unreasonably …