Beshada v. Johns-Manville Products Corp.
Supreme Court of New Jersey
447 A.2d 539 (1983)
Relevant factsFree
Beshada and other workers and family members (plaintiffs) exposed to asbestos on the job sued Johns-Manville and other manufacturers (defendants) on a strict-liability failure-to-warn theory. The manufacturers argued a state-of-the-art defense, claiming that at the time of the exposures, the dangers of asbestos were not yet known to science, so they had no way to warn about a danger nobody knew existed. The plaintiffs moved to strike this defense; the trial court denied the motion, and the plaintiffs appealed.
IssueFree
Whether a defendant in a strict-liability failure-to-warn products-liability action may raise a state-of-the-art defense.