On Sept. 20, 2010, the plaintiff, a 55-year-old former construction worker, was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. While working as a construction worker in the 1970s and 1980s, the plaintiff helped install underground water and sewer lines. The pipes used were 6 to 48 inches in diameter and were made of a concrete-asbestos composite material for strength, as well as for ease of fabrication. The makers, sellers and deliverers of the pipes included Ferguson Enterprises, Westburne Supply, J-M Manufacturing and Certainteed Corp. The plaintiff’s job, in part, was to cut the asbestos-concrete pipes so that they could be properly laid and connected beneath public and private streets in and around Chico. The work was executed with a gasoline-operated saw and the resultant cuts generated a significant amount of cement-asbestos dust, which then became airborne from the saw’s whirring blades and engine exhaust blast. The plaintiff noted that the asbestos dust was at times so thick that a person standing 3 feet away would not be visible. By the end of each workday, the plaintiff was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of asbestos dust. He claimed that these continuous exposures caused his disease. The plaintiff sued a number of the makers, sellers and deliverers of the pipes, but several of the defendants were let out of the case prior to trial. Thus, the case only proceeded against Ferguson Enterprises, Westburne Supply, J-M Manufacturing and Certainteed Corp., as well as two others. The plaintiff claimed that the task of cutting this particular type of pipe posed extreme health risks, which the defendants did not warn him about. The defendants — two from Southern California, the others from out of state — denied there was any asbestos exposure from their products because their products were not delivered to the construction sites where the plaintiff worked or at the times he worked there. However, the plaintiff responded that the subject pipes were in fact delivered where and when he worked., The plaintiff started feeling symptoms of sickness in 2010 and subsequently was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in September of that year. He has since treated with numerous therapies, including chemotherapy and radiation. Notably, in February 2011, the plaintiff underwent an extrapleural pneumonectomy and a partial pleurectomy on the same day. However, his treatment failed because the disease had spread throughout his body. Plaintiffs’ counsel noted that the plaintiff is not able to see his grandchildren as often because there is worry of him catching an infection. Additionally, the plaintiff had to employ overall changes in order to prevent catching an illness, such as constantly using hand sanitizer and keeping anyone who may show signs of illness away. His wife also originally brought a derivative claim, seeking recovery for loss of consortium.