No Duty to Warn of Defects in Another Manufacturer’s Product

2009 | Topic: Product Liability

In Taylor v. Elliott Turbomachinery Co. Inc., 2009 Cal.App. LEXIS 214, decided on February 25, 2009, the California First District Court of Appeal held that component manufacturers and suppliers were properly found not liable for failing to warn of dangers inherent in asbestos-containing products supplied by other manufacturers because they were not part of the chain of distribution of the injury-causing products, and California law recognized no duty to warn of defects in another manufacturer's products. The decedent’s injury did not come from defendants' equipment itself, but instead was caused by asbestos released from products made or supplied by other manufacturers and used in conjunction with defendants’ equipment. The component parts doctrine also shielded defendant from liability.