Tenn. High Court: Manufacturers Don’t Owe Duty to Warn of Third-Party’s Asbestos-Containing Parts

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. –– Tennessee’s highest court has ruled that manufacturers do not owe an asbestos plaintiff a duty to warn of products manufactured by a third party, concluding that the defendants’ duty to the consumer is “measured at the time the product leaves its control.”

In the Jan. 4 opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court concluded that “manufacturers have no duty to warn with respect to products manufactured and sold by others.”

The plaintiffs alleged in the complaint that Donald Coffman’s mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos-containing products he encountered while working at the Tennessee Eastman chemical plant for nearly …