On August 25, 2016, the California Supreme Court, without a written opinion, declined to hear a petition to review an appellate panel’s decision to overturn a trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Hennessy Industries Inc. In this case, the plaintiff claimed that the decedent, Frank Rondon, worked as a mechanic using defendant Hennessy’s (Ammco Tools) brake arcing machines designed to grind asbestos brake shoes. Hennessy moved for summary judgment arguing that the brake grinders did not contain asbestos and plaintiffs could not establish that the brake grinders were made to be used exclusively and inevitably with asbestos brakes. The trial court agreed with that argument. The appellate court, leaning heavily on O’Neil v. Crane Co., 53 Cal. 4th 335 (2012), reversed the trial court holding that a showing of “inevitable use” is required and based on the evidence before the court that standard was satisfied and summary judgment was not proper. A discussion of that decision may be found here.
California High Court Declines to Review Appellate Reversal of Trial Court’s Grant of Summary Judgment
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