[PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
April 14, 2005
No. 03-14038 THOMAS K. KAHN
________________________ CLERK
D. C. Docket Nos. 90-00258-CV-5 & 90-00262- CV-5
FELTON CULLEN WILLIAMS,
RICHARD L. CARTER, et al.,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
versus
OWENS-CORNING FIBERGLAS CORPORATION, et al,
Defendants,
CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC.,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
No. 03-14508
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 01-00155-CV-2
JAMES LEVERETT,
Individually and as Executor of the
Estate of Gloria Leverett, Deceased,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
CSX TRANSPORTATION INC.,
Individually and as Successor in Interest to
Seaboard Systems Railroad, Inc., The Seaboard
Coastline Railroad, The Atlantic Coastline Railroad and
The Georgia and Florida Railroad,
Defendant-Appellant,
GARLOCK, INC., et al,
Defendants.
________________________
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Georgia
_________________________
(April 14, 2005)
Before BLACK, RONEY and STROM*, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
These separate interlocutory appeals, Nos. 03-14038 & 03-14508, are again
*
Honorable Lyle E. Strom, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska,
sitting by designation.
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before this Court after the Supreme Court of Georgia’s answer to our Certified
Question of State Law. Plaintiffs are relatives, or personal representatives thereof,
of Defendant CSX Transportation (“CSXT”) employees who allege in the diversity
jurisdiction case they were exposed at locations other than CSXT work facilities, such
as at home, to asbestos fibers emitted from the work clothing worn by their CSXT-
employee relatives, causing them, among other things, lung diseases. The district
court denied CSXT’s motions for partial summary judgments on plaintiffs’
negligence claims under Georgia negligence law. We reverse.
As we recently explained, “the district court held that Georgia negligence law
imposed a duty of care on CSXT to its employees’ family members who were
exposed to that asbestos-tainted clothing.” Williams v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas
Corp., 369 F.3d 1269, 1270 (11th Cir. 2004). Because we found no published
Georgia case on point, we certified the following question of Georgia law to the
Supreme Court of Georgia:
Whether Georgia negligence law imposes any duty on an
employer to a third-party, non-employee, who comes into
contact with its employee’s asbestos-tainted work clothing
at locations away from the workplace, such as the
employee’s home?
369 F.3d at 1270.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has now answered our question in the negative
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as follows, “Georgia negligence law does not impose any duty on an employer to a
third-party, non-employee, who comes into contact with its employee’s asbestos-
tainted work clothing at locations away from the workplace.” See CSX Transp., Inc.
v. Williams, et al., 608 S.E.2d 208, 210 (Ga. Jan. 24, 2005).
It was therefore error for the district court to deny CSXT’s motions for partial
summary judgment on the ground that CSXT owed such a duty of care. The
judgment denying CSXT’s motions for summary judgment are reversed and the cases
are remanded to the district court for proceedings consistent with the Georgia State
Law.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
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