Between 1960 and 1975, plaintiff’s decedent Charles Hill was employed as a pipefitter in three different San Diego shipyards and worked on ships commissioned by the United States Navy. During that period John Crane Inc., a Illinois-based corporation, had supplied gaskets containing encapsulated asbestos for use in the construction of U.S. Navy ships. On July 12, 2012, Hill, age 72, was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died on March 8, 2013. The decedent’s wife, Susan Hill, acting individually and on behalf of her husband’s estate, sued John Crane Inc. Ms. Hill also sued 46 other manufacturers, distributors and/or users of asbestos-containing products. Many of the defendants settled or were nonsuited prior to trial. The matter proceeded to trial against John Crane and Crane Co. Ms. Hill alleged that John Crane and Crane Co. defectively designed their respective products and that they failed to warn of the dangers of exposure to the asbestos contained in those products. She alleged that as a result, John Crane and Crane Co. were negligent and strictly liable for her husband’s mesothelioma and wrongful death. However, Crane Co. ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount on the first week of trial. The matter continued against John Crane only. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that John Crane’s products were used in shipbuilding projects the decedent worked on and that Hill’s job assignments included cutting sheet gaskets supplied by John Crane. Counsel maintained that this would have exposed him to the encapsulated asbestos. The plaintiff’s medical experts testified that the decedent’s mesothelioma was caused by asbestos exposure. The plaintiff’s material sciences expert testified that the risks of asbestos exposure were widely known at the time John Crane manufactured the gaskets, but that the company negligently used asbestos despite knowing it would present a substantial danger to users and that the risks would not outweigh the benefits. John Crane’s counsel maintained that the decedent was only assigned to cut the sheet gaskets from 1960 through 1964, and that the gaskets were designed according to U.S. Navy specifications. Counsel also maintained that asbestos fibers were a standard component of insulation on the ships that the decedent worked on and that as fibrous asbestos is much more hazardous than encapsulated asbestos, the insulation on those ships was more likely to have been the cause of the decedent’s mesothelioma. The defense’s industrial hygiene expert testified that during the time the decedent was assigned to cut the sheet gaskets, the decedent’s exposure would have been within safe levels, both by modern and then-current standards. The defense’s medical experts also opined that very few cases of mesothelioma have been reliably attributed to chrysotile, which is the most commonly used form of asbestos, and that encapsulated chrysotile asbestos is not associated with mesothelioma., Charles Hill was diagnosed with mesothelioma on July 12, 2012, at the age of 72. He later died on March 8, 2013. The decedent’s wife, Susan Hill, sought recovery of $13 million in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount of punitive damages.