Mesothelioma Widow’s Lawsuit Against Nissan Motors Permitted to Move Forward
Lawrence Carroll died of malignant mesothelioma in 2016, just months after having been diagnosed with the rare and fatal disease. Knowing that he had been exposed to asbestos at various points in his life, his widow and her son ordered an autopsy for litigation purposes. That autopsy and the disposition of the samples taken were at the center of significant legal action by one of the named defendants and resulted in the widow’s claim being dismissed until an appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling.
Nissan Motors Accuses Mesothelioma Widow of “Willful and Deliberate” Violations
The mesothelioma widow’s contract with the autopsy company stated that after six months the materials collected would be made available to medical researchers or destroyed. She later filed a mesothelioma lawsuit against five bankruptcy trusts representing companies whose asbestos-contaminated products her husband had been exposed to as a child, and then later Nissan Motors as a defendant for workplace exposure to asbestos during his years working as a service and parts manager.
Nissan requested samples from the mesothelioma victim’s autopsy to determine the type of asbestos fibers in his lungs, and when told that they were not available subsequently filed a motion asking for the case to be thrown out. They accused the 80-year-old widow of “willful and deliberate” violations of the discovery process.
Lower Court’s Dismissal of Mesothelioma Lawsuit Overturned
Though the lower court hearing the case agreed with Nissan Motors and dismissed the mesothelioma lawsuit, the widow appealed that decision to a Washington state appeals court, which agreed that the lower court had acted inappropriately. They noted that when imposing discovery sanctions, trial courts must be mindful that the law favors the resolution of cases and that courts should impose the least severe sanction adequate to serve its purpose. They also indicated that Nissan had not established that the violations of the rules of discovery were willful or deliberate. The case will be reinstated and permitted to proceed.
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