The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently addressed arguments testing the intersection between maritime and product liability law, all of which stemmed from a plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos on various Navy ships during the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, the plaintiff was employed as a welder by the Department of Defense. The issues of first impression before the court were (i) whether “maritime law recognize[s] a sophisticated user and/or sophisticated purchaser defense and, if so, to what causes of action does the defense(s) apply”; and (ii) whether a Navy ship is a “product” within strict products liability law. Section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts provides guidelines for the “sophisticated user” defense: One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for another to use is subject to liability to those whom the supplier should expect to use the chattel with the consent of the other or to be endangered by its probable use, for physical harm causedRead more