Southern District Of Illinois Court Denies 'Bare Metal Defense,' Applying Maritime Law

On September 23, 2015, in Kochera v. Foster Wheeler, LLC, No. 3:14-cv-00029 (S.D.Ill. 2015), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, applying maritime law, denied Ingersoll-Rand Company's motion for summary judgment in an asbestos products liability case on the grounds that Ingersoll-Rand designed its products to be used with asbestos-containing materials.

Background

Ingersoll-Rand argued that it is not liable for injuries caused by products it did not manufacture or distribute and that "it is undeniable that a metal valve does not contain or give off any asbestos dust or asbestos fibers." This is referred to as the "bare metal defense" (citing Quirin v. Lorillard Tobacco Co., 17 F.Supp.3d 760, 769-770 (N.D.Ill. 2014)). The Northern District of Illinois in Quirin stated that "consistent with the bare metal defense, a manufacturer is not liable for materials it did not supply. But a duty may attach where the defendant manufactured a product that, by necessity, contained asbestos components, where the asbestos-containing material was essential to the proper functioning of the defendant's product, and where the asbestos-containing material would necessarily be replaced by other asbestos-containing material, whether supplied by the original manufacturer or someone else."

In Quirin, the Court denied the defendant's motion for summary judgment, saying that the record contained sufficient information for a jury to conclude that the defendant's valves required asbestos-containing components to function in the high-heat applications for which they were intended. Judge Yandle noted that the plaintiff relied on evidence that the Ingersoll-Rand products "required asbestos-containing components to function properly in the high-heat applications for which they were supplied." Based on this evidence presented by the plaintiff and the Quirin court's opinion, Judge Yandle denied the motion for summary judgment because Ingersoll-Rand designed its products to be used with asbestos-containing materials.

The Maritime Factor

The Court applied maritime law after finding that the claim met both a locality test and a connection test...