Arconic Loses Bid for Wide Reading of Iowa Asbestos Immunity Law

A new Iowa law on asbestos liability doesn’t protect Arconic Inc. and an insulation supplier from suit over a former factory construction contractor’s death, because legislators created only a limited defense, the state’s high court ruled 4–3.

The Iowa Legislature intended to enact the “bare metal defense” when it precluded liability for an asbestos-containing “product or component part made or sold by a third party,” Justice Dana Oxley said for the Iowa Supreme Court. That defense applies to makers of products such as ship pumps, blowers, and turbines that were used with other companies’ asbestos parts and insulation, Oxley said. ...