Calif. Court Denies Defense Efforts to Dismiss Asbestos Case on Derivative Sovereign Immunity Grounds

LOS ANGELES –– A California federal court has denied a defense motion to dismiss an asbestos case involving U.S. Naval exposure, ruling that a number of the defendants cannot be protected by derivative sovereign immunity.

In an Oct. 21 order, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California concluded that the immunity sought by the defendants was not a jurisdictional bar, but instead an affirmative defense.

The plaintiffs contend in the lawsuit hat Dale M. Spurlin was exposed to asbestos-containing equipment while serving as a boiler tender in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s. Spurlin specifically identified two …