Jurisdiction: Calif. Super., Los Angeles Co.
Plaintiff Jose Estrada filed suit alleging exposure to asbestos from a variety of products, including automobile parts during his employment at a tire store. Mr. Estrada was diagnosed with mesothelioma, and brought the instant suit, along with his wife, Isabel, who claimed loss of consortium. Jose Estrada claimed that his exposure was in part from brake assemblies manufactured by American Honda and sold at the tire store. Plaintiff alleged strict liability, design defect, failure to warn and negligence as to all defendants.
The case went through three weeks of trial testimony, including experts. At the end of the trial, the jury rendered a defense verdict for Honda. The jury found that American Honda’s products failed “to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would have expected” and that the products were “used in a way that was reasonably foreseeable” to American Honda but that the failure was not “a substantial factor in” Jose Estrada’s injury.
The jury found that American Honda’s products contained “risks that were known or knowable” to it and that American Honda failed to warn of the risks. However, the jury then found that the lack of “sufficient warnings” was not “a substantial factor in causing” Jose Estrada’s harm.
Despite finding negligence on American Honda, the jury rendered a defense verdict.
Read the full decision here.
