Killian v. A.C. & S., Inc.
Docket: Index No. 114345/02 Appeal No. 13732 Case No. 2020-03894
Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; July 19, 2022; New York; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
In *Killian v. A.C. S. Inc.*, the Appellate Division, First Department, reversed a prior order from the Supreme Court of New York County that denied American Biltrite, Inc. (ABI)'s motion for summary judgment. The court held that there were no triable issues of fact regarding specific causation in a lawsuit alleging that decedent Charles L. Grunert's lung cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos from ABI's Amtico floor tiles. Grunert, diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2016 and deceased by April 2018, had claimed his illness resulted from asbestos exposure during his work as a carpenter, including the installation of vinyl floor tiles. However, during depositions, he consistently denied having directly worked with Amtico tiles. The court noted that although the plaintiff's expert challenged ABI's expert's conclusions—based on calculations indicating Grunert's exposure level was akin to ambient air levels, insufficient to cause cancer—the plaintiff did not provide a counter-expert to dispute ABI's calculations. The court found that Grunert's testimony did not raise a factual issue regarding whether he was exposed to sufficient levels of asbestos from ABI's products to cause his lung cancer. Consequently, the court granted ABI's motion for summary judgment, dismissing the complaint and all cross claims against it without costs, stating that the reliability of ABI's expert's calculations was not undermined simply because they were funded by ABI. The decision concluded without addressing other issues raised by ABI, affirming the lower court's ruling was erroneous.