Thomas Vandenburg and Rudolf Petrosyan from our Glendale office have secured a summary judgment in favor of our client in a product liability case.
Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against 24 chemical manufacturers and suppliers alleging he developed leukemia due to his exposure to benzene containing products. Against our client, Plaintiff alleged that our client supplied benzene to a Co-Defendant manufacturer whose product Plaintiff was exposed to. Plaintiff alleged that our client failed to give proper warnings regarding the adverse health risks of its benzene.
In the moving papers and during oral argument, Mr. Petrosyan successfully argued that Plaintiff cannot establish causation. Plaintiff’s exposure to Co-Defendant’s product occurred exclusively in California. However, our client only supplied benzene to Co-Defendant’s factory in the East Coast. Through deposition testimonies and other evidence, we were able to show that the benzene used in Co-Defendant’s product was locally sourced in California. Therefore, there was no admissible evidence that Plaintiff could have been exposed to our client’s benzene. The Court agreed with us and granted our motion for summary judgment. Despite Plaintiff’s objection, the Court also granted our client over $10,000 in costs.