Webb v. Special Electric Company, Inc

In Webb v. Special Electric Company, Inc. (2016) 63 Cal.4th 167, the plaintiff William Webb, had worked as a warehouseman and truck driver for Pyramid Pipe & Supply Co. Between 1969 and 1979, Webb was exposed to asbestos pipes manufactured at Johns-Manville's Long Beach plant. After he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2011, he sued Special Electric for failing to warn him about the dangers of asbestos. (Id. at p. 178.) The jury found "Special Electric liable for failure to warn and negligence, but not liable for supplying a defectively designed product. It apportioned 49 percent of fault to Johns-Manville, 18 percent to Special Electric, and 33 percent to other entities." (Id. at p. 179.) The jury verdict against Special Electric was set aside by the trial court, but reinstated on appeal. (Id. at p. 193.) In that case, the California Supreme Court provided three factors for courts to consider to make this determination: "the gravity of the risks posed by the product, the likelihood that the intermediary will convey the information to the ultimate user, and the feasibility and effectiveness of giving a warning directly to the user." Id. at 190. The California Supreme Court held: "To establish a defense under the sophisticated intermediary doctrine, a product supplier must show not only that it warned or sold to a knowledgeable intermediary, but also that it actually and reasonably relied on the intermediary to convey warnings to end users. This inquiry will typically raise questions of fact for the jury to resolve unless critical facts establishing reasonableness are undisputed."