Court: Recycling Material Doesn't Mean Defendant Qualifies as Distributor

SALEM, Ore. -- An Oregon appellate court has affirmed the dismissal of claims asserted against General Electric, ruling that the company's decision to recycle asbestos-containing products and reuse them in a new project did not qualify it as distributor of those products. Mason v. Mt. St. Joseph Inc., et al., No. A133639 (Ore. Ct. App.).

In the March 4 opinion, the Oregon Court of Appeals found that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that the defendant -- in reusing the material -- engaged in marketing the defective products and, as such, the claims were barred under the statute of repose. …