Simonetta v. Viad Corp.

¶1 — This case presents the issue of whether under the common law a manufacturer can be held liable for failure to warn of the hazards of another manufacturer’s product. Joseph Simonetta claims his lung cancer was the result of exposure to asbestos while employed by the United States Navy. Simonetta performed maintenance on an evaporator, a device that desalinates seawater, manufactured by Griscom Russell, a company of which Viad Corporation is the purported successor. After the evaporator was shipped from the Griscom Russell plant in 1941 or 1942, it was insulated with asbestos products…