OPINION
Appellants, Union Carbide Corporation and Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (“Hexion”),*fn1 challenge the trial court’s judgment entered in favor of appellees, Oliver D. Smith and Peggy Ann Bowen Smith, after a jury trial, in the Smiths’ suit against Union Carbide and Hexion arising from Oliver’s exposure to asbestos and subsequent development of mesothelioma.*fn2 In its first issue, Union Carbide contends that there is no evidence that it controlled the details of Oliver’s work, which is necessary to establish liability against Union Carbide, as a premises owner, for the injuries of Oliver, an employee of an independent contractor working on Union Carbide’s premises.*fn3 In its second issue, Union Carbide contends that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to establish that asbestos exposure at its Texas City plant proximately caused Oliver’s mesothelioma. Specifically, Union Carbide contends that the Smiths presented “no scientifically reliable evidence of the approximate dose of asbestos” to which Oliver was exposed at Union Carbide’s facility, no evidence as to what portion of Oliver’s total asbestos exposure occurred while he worked at Union Carbide, and no evidence that the dose of asbestos to which Oliver was exposed at Union Carbide constituted a substantial factor in causing his mesothelioma.
In its first issue, Hexion contends that the evidence conclusively establishes Hexion’s affirmative defense that the Smiths’ claims are barred under the exclusive remedy provision of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act.*fn4 In its second issue, Hexion contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to establish that its negligence proximately caused Oliver’s mesothelioma. Hexion specifically contends that the Smiths presented no evidence “quantifying the approximate dose of asbestos, if any, that [Oliver] received during his employment by Hexion,” of the “threshold below which [Oliver's] disease would not have occurred,” or that Hexion’s negligence caused Oliver’s mesothelioma “or at least caused him to receive a dose” sufficient to cause mesothelioma. In its third issue, Hexion contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to establish that it was foreseeable to Hexion that Oliver would develop mesothelioma from his asbestos exposure. In its fourth issue, Hexion contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the jury’s finding of gross negligence and the imposition of exemplary damages. In its fifth issue, Hexion contends that the trial court erred in allowing the Smiths’ counsel to raise the issue of Hexion’s gross negligence for the first time in her rebuttal argument and thus depriving Hexion of the opportunity to respond to the issue in its closing argument. We reverse the trial court’s judgment and render a take nothing judgment in favor of Union Carbide and Hexion.
