| Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig. |
| 2021 NY Slip Op 06326 [199 AD3d 488] |
| November 16, 2021 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| In the Matter of New York City Asbestos Litigation. Ralph
Lanza, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Santo Lanza, Deceased, et al.,
Respondents, v Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc., Appellant. Bram W. Kranichfeld, as Executor of the Estate of Henry C. Kranichfeld, Deceased, Respondent, v Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc., Appellant. |
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, P.C., New York (Richard C. Imbrogno of counsel), for appellant.
The Early Law Firm, LLC, New York (Mark Bibro of counsel), for respondents.
Orders, Supreme Court, New York County (Lucy Billings, J.), entered September 8, 2020, which granted plaintiffs' motions for a joint trial of these actions, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
These two asbestos exposure actions involve common questions of law and fact (see CPLR 602 [a]; Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig. [Brooklyn Nav. Shipyard Cases], 188 AD2d 214, 224-225 [1st Dept 1993], affd 82 NY2d 821 [1993]; see also Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig., 111 AD3d 574 [1st Dept 2013]; Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig., 99 AD3d 410 [1st Dept 2012]). Defendant has not established that it will be prejudiced by a joint trial of the actions. The actions share the sole remaining defendant, counsel in both actions are identical, plaintiffs' decedents were exposed to the same product manufactured by defendant for similar periods of time, and both decedents died of the same disease (see Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig., 121 AD3d 230 [1st Dept 2014], affd 27 NY3d 1172 [2016], 27 NY3d 765 [2016]). The fact that one of the decedents was a painter and the other a carpenter is a distinction without a difference since both were allegedly exposed to asbestos as a result of the sanding and cutting of defendant's joint compound. Their different exposures to products not manufactured by defendant can be addressed through carefully crafted juror instructions and special verdict sheets. Concur—Manzanet-Daniels, J.P., Kapnick, Mazzarelli, Scarpulla, JJ. [Prior Case History: 70 Misc 3d 921.]