California Supreme Court Asbestos Case: Kinsman v. Unocal Corp.

Read about the reverse and remand in this 2005 California Supreme Court case, where plaintiff Ray Kinsman was injured by his exposure to asbestos at a work site owned by defendant Unocal Corporation.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

RAY KINSMAN et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. UNOCAL CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant

In a series of decisions over the last dozen or so years, this court has delineated the circumstances under which the employee of an independent contractor who is injured on the job may sue the hirer of that contractor.

Specifically, in this case we must decide whether a carpenter employed by an independent contractor that installed scaffolding for workers who replaced asbestos insulation in an oil refinery facility may sue the refinery owners for injuries caused by exposure to asbestos, when it is claimed that only the refinery owner knew the carpenter was being exposed to a hazardous substance.

We conclude that a landowner that hires an independent contractor may be liable to the contractor’s employee if the following conditions are present: the landowner knew, or should have known, of a latent or concealed preexisting hazardous condition on its property, the contractor did not know and could not have reasonably discovered this hazardous condition, and the landowner failed to warn the contractor about this condition.

Courtesy of http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S118561.PDF

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