In Air & Liquid Systems Corp., et al. v Devries, et al., No. 17-1104 (March 19, 2019) the U.S. Supreme Court held that a product manufacturer, in a maritime tort context, has a duty to warn when its product requires incorporation of a part that the manufacturer knows or has reason to know that the integrated part is likely to be dangerous for its intended uses and the manufacturer has no reason to believe that the product users will realize that danger. In this instance, the plaintiffs were two Navy veterans who were exposed to asbestos on ships and developed cancer. They sued companies that produced equipment for three Navy ships. The equipment required asbestos insulation or asbestos parts to function as intended, but the manufacturers did not incorporate the asbestos into their products. Instead, the manufacturers delivered their equipment to the Navy without asbestos, leaving the Navy to add the asbestos to the equipment later. In the district court, the defendants…
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