OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – No matter how many defendants an asbestos plaintiff names, he or she can’t be subjected to more than 14 hours of deposition time.
That’s the July 19 ruling of the California First Appellate District, which was asked to determine if plaintiffs suffering from mesothelioma must give more of their time in certain situations.
California law caps deposition time for mesothelioma plaintiffs if there is substantial doubt they will live more than six months at seven hours, but defendants can be granted another seven if more than 20 defendants show up.
Cahill Construction Company, one of 105 defendants named in the asbestos suit of Edward and Linda Richards, asked for even more time. More than 80 defendants took part in the deposition.
Cahill said the cap deprived it of the ability to effectively question Richards on his work and product exposure histories. Alameda Superior Court Judge Victor Rodriguez, sitting on the First District for the case, wrote the legislature denied those kinds of arguments when it drafted the legislation.
“(T)he statute did not prevent defendants from taking advantage of the myriad other forms of discovery available to them, including depositions of percipient witnesses and contention interrogatories to plaintiffs,” Rodriguez wrote.
“Cahill highlights the inequity in allowing plaintiffs’ counsel unlimited time to depose the plaintiff while placing an ‘inflexible cap’ on defense deposition. That argument is relevant to a facial challenge rather than an as-applied one.
“And, while it may have some logical appeal, the Legislature decided otherwise. The time disparity in this case does not render the statute unconstitutional as applied to Cahill.”
Trial is scheduled to begin next month for Richards, who is 73 and might not have much more time, according to his treating physician. He says he was exposed to asbestos during a 30-year career as a pipefitter.
Cahill was joined in its position by Foster Wheeler, Fryer-Knowles, Nibco, O’Reilly Auto Enterprises and Swinerton Builders.