Chemical Co. Gets Wrongful Death Suit Voluntarily Dismissed

Lewis Brisbois helped a chemical company secure the voluntary dismissal of a “chemical soup” product liability wrongful death case in a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction.

The complaint alleged that the plaintiff’s occupational exposure to at least 18 different chemicals caused him to develop bladder cancer and included claims against our client for strict liability, breach of implied warranty, negligence, and loss of consortium.

The complaint did not identify who supplied any of the chemicals and discovery yielded little in the way of product identification. Prior to his passing, the plaintiff admitted at deposition that he was not aware of who supplied any of the materials that went into making the products to which he was allegedly exposed. However, one business day before discovery was set to close, plaintiff's counsel provided an affidavit from a former coworker stating that our client was the “exclusive supplier” of two of the chemicals.

Upon receipt of the affidavit, we obtained an order allowing us to depose the affiant out of time. The witness later recanted the entirety of his affidavit as to one of the products during his deposition, which left the plaintiffs with no evidence against our client as to that product.

Following the deposition, we filed a motion for summary judgment arguing there was no evidence that the plaintiff was ever exposed to any of our client’s products or that the plaintiff’s exposure to our client’s products was a factual cause of his injury. In addition, we argued that there was no competent expert opinion that any of our client’s products caused the plaintiff’s bladder cancer.

Rather than oppose the motion, plaintiff's counsel agreed to a voluntary dismissal of our client with prejudice ahead of the scheduled April 2018 trial date.