Behrens and Horn Publish on Third-Party Liability in Asbestos Litigation

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Public Policy Co-Chair Mark Behrens and Associate Margaret Horn have co-authored an article published in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Trial Advocacy. Titled “Liability for Asbestos-Containing Connected or Replacement Parts Made by Third-Parties: Courts Are Properly Rejecting This Form of Guilt by Association,” the article discusses the current trend among plaintiffs’ lawyers to attempt to expand liability beyond bankrupt asbestos manufacturers to companies that make products sold without parts, later incorporated, containing asbestos made by others. Analyzing numerous cases “outside of the asbestos context in which courts refused to impose liability on manufacturers for harms caused by products outside of their chain of distribution,” the authors call on courts to similarly reject legal theories that would require the manufacturers of uninsulated products to warn “about potential harms from exposure to asbestos-containing external thermal insulation manufactured and sold by third-parties and attached post-sale.”