May 1, 2018
In Connecticut, many products liability actions involving asbestos exposure have involved General Dynamics Electric Boat, a subsidiary of the General Dynamics Corporation, which has built submarines for the U.S. Navy for decades in the Town of Groton. As such, it is perhaps unsurprising that in Paquin v. Crane, Co. 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48854 (2017) the issue arose whether federal maritime law or Connecticut state law applied in a products liability action involving asbestos exposure. In Paquin, the plaintiff, Paul Paquin, worked for Electric Boat in Groton,
Connecticut for over thirty years. Mr. Paquin subsequently brought an action against the Crane Company among a host of other corporations. In his complaint, Mr. Paquin alleged that he was exposed to asbestos-containing products manufactured by the Crane Company during his employment with Electric Boat which caused him to develop “asbestos-related lung diseases.” The Crane Company filed a motion for summary judgment, which was denied, but not before the Court addressed the issue of whether federal maritime law or Connecticut state law applied to Mr. Paquin’s tort claims.
The district court, Thompson, J., held that it did not need determine whether federal maritime law or Connecticut state law applied in the context of product liability action because “its analysis is the same under either standard.” Under each standard, the Court concluded that “the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendants manufactured or distributed a defective product, that the defect existed at the time [the plaintiff] utilized the product, that [the plaintiff] was exposed to that defective product without adequate warning or protection, and that exposure to the defective product caused [his injury].” Id. at 5-6.
The decision in Paquin is more than just scintillating case law. Paquin will save defense counsel hours of time analyzing whether federal maritime law or Connecticut state law applies in a products liability action involving asbestos. Citing Paquin, defense counsel can now confidently bypass what was once a thorny legal issue.