Justice Sherry Klein Heitler
Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) moved for summary judgment dismissing Macek’s complaint in this personal injury action from Macek’s exposure to asbestos-containing products in the course of his employment. Macek’s deposition testimony revealed he was exposed to asbestos from various products, including joint compound, primarily from Georgia Pacific (GP) ready mix brand. UCC argued it had no duty to warn Macek of the dangers associated with SG-120 Calidria asbestos as it was a bulk supplier of raw materials to GP, to whom it provided adequate warnings. The court noted while the bulk supplier doctrine sought to limit manufacturers’ liability to the end consumer, it obligated them to adequately warn their distributees. Yet, it stated the focus in the Rivers v. AT&T Tech case, cited by UCC, must be on the quality of warnings UCC delivered to its intermediaries to whom it directly sold Calidria, and not those delivered to Macek. The court ruled the adequacies of any such warnings that UCC gave to GP, its distributee, were a question of fact for the jury. Accordingly, summary judgment on this ground was precluded.
