Mississippi Valley Silica Company, Inc. v. Eastman
Annotate this CaseRobert Eastman claimed Mississippi Valley Silica Company, Inc. ("MVS"), the company that supplied sand to his employer Marathon LeTourneau, failed to warn him of the dangers posed by sandblasting. At trial, MVS requested a "sophisticated user/learned-intermediary" jury instruction. Although the requested instruction was an incomplete statement of the law, the trial judge refused the instruction for an erroneous reason and failed to instruct the jury properly on the submitted defense. The jury returned a verdict for Eastman, and MVS timely appealed, raising eight issues, including the trial judge's refusal to grant the sophisticated-user jury instruction. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that issue dispositive, and reversed and remanded for a new trial.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.