Clay v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp.

722 F.2d 1289 (6th Cir. 1984)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ps sued Ds for products liability from asbestos exposure. At trial, Ps sought to admit a prior deposition taken from a witness, Dr. Kenneth Wallace Smith, in a prior asbestos case. At the time of the original proceeding, Dr. Smith was 63 years of age and had acquired his knowledge about asbestos disease in the employment of D, the largest asbestos manufacturer in the field. Dr. Smith was D's only full-time physician for 22 years. He died before he could testify in this case. His deposition in the prior case is peculiarly relevant to the extent of the knowledge possessed by manufacturers of the hazards of asbestos-containing products during the years when Ps allege they were exposed to asbestos. The District Court excluded the deposition in that it did not qualify under Rule 804(b)(1). It ruled that defendants in the prior case were not predecessors in interest to Ds in this case. Ds got the verdict, and Ps appealed.