Brumley vs. FDCC Asbestos Case Discussion: Barrington v. A.H. Robins Co. Trial Court

Read discussion of trial court reasoning in the Barrington case. This case is discussed in the appellate decision in Brumley, et. al vs. FDCC California, Inc. In this decedent asbestos cancer case, the plaintiffs appeal the lower court’s decision on the wrongful death claim filed on behalf of the widow and children and the widow’s loss of consortium.

The trial court’s reasoning was wholly consistent with the statutory language and commonly recognized exceptions to section 583.310. Ordinarily, if a party fails to bring a case to trial within five years and is unable to demonstrate that it was impracticable to bring the case to trial within that time, the action should be dismissed. (See, e.g., General Motors Corp. v. Superior Court (1966) 65 Cal.2d 88, 96–97 (General Motors).) While acknowledging this rule, plaintiffs argue that a somewhat different rule must be applied when causes of action that could have been the subject of a separate lawsuit are joined by amendment after the filing of the original complaint. In making this argument, plaintiffs rely exclusively on Barrington v. A. H. Robins Co. (1985) 39 Cal.3d 146 (Barrington), a case that arose in the context of former section 581a (a portion of which is now encoded as section 583.210).

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