Mealey's Asbestos
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June 23, 2022
Iowa Supreme Court Limits Statute Precluding Third-Party Asbestos Liability
DES MOINES, Iowa — In enacting a law limiting the liability of defendants sued for third-party asbestos products, the Iowa Legislature sought to adopt the bare-metal defense; however, the law’s reach is limited to manufacturers and sellers and does not apply in a premises liability case, a divided Iowa Supreme Court said June 17.
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June 23, 2022
Plaintiffs File Asbestos-Talc Actions Against J&J After Judge Lifts Bankruptcy Stay
OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs filed a pair of asbestos-talc tort actions naming Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and various retailers June 16 in a California court after the judge overseeing the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy granted a limited lift of a preliminary injunction and stay enjoining asbestos actions against the debtor, J&J and other affiliates.
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June 21, 2022
Louisiana Federal Judge Grants Ex Parte Dismissals In Asbestos Liability Suit
NEW ORLEANS — Almost two weeks after granting an ex parte joint motion to dismiss with prejudice, a Louisiana federal judge on June 13 issued an order granting plaintiffs’ ex parte motion to dismiss with prejudice against specified defendants in an asbestos liability coverage suit alleging that a man contracted malignant mesothelioma and died due to his inhalation of asbestos fibers.
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June 21, 2022
Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002
(Includes plaintiff and defense experts who testified in trials covered in The Report since Jan. 1, 2002.)
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June 21, 2022
Louisiana Jury Returns $36.7 Million Verdict In Mesothelioma Case
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana jury on May 23 awarded a former pipe fitter $36.7 million for mesothelioma, found negligence on the part of 20 defendants in addition to the defendant at trial and returned a defense verdict for a second trial defendant.
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June 21, 2022
Survival Damages Not Available In Maritime Wrongful Death Asbestos Case, Judge Says
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Nothing in the historical context, precedent or policy realm warrant allowing survival damages in a maritime wrongful death suit, a federal judge said in a June 10 opinion explaining a previous order dismissing the asbestos-related claim.
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June 21, 2022
Crane Co., Plaintiff Tell Court Stipulated Dismissal Resolves Asbestos Case
NEW YORK — A previous stipulated dismissal with prejudice resolved all asbestos claims against all parties, a plaintiff and Crane Co. tell a New York federal judge in a June 6 joint letter.
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June 17, 2022
Rhode Island Judge: Evidence Keeps Union Carbide In Asbestos Case
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Permits documenting work combined with testimony about that work and that a company’s joint compound contained Union Carbide Corp.’s Calidria asbestos during the period suffice to overcome summary judgment as challenges go to the weight of that evidence, a judge in Rhode Island said June 15.
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June 17, 2022
John Crane Inc. Argues Lack Of Damages Dooms Maritime Asbestos Suit
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Having failed to demonstrate damages for which she can recover in a maritime case, a widow’s asbestos suit is doomed, John Crane Inc. (JCI) argues in a supplemental motion seeking summary judgment June 14.
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June 17, 2022
New York Bill Expanding Wrongful Death Claims Heads To Governor
ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York state bill expanding who can recover wrongful death damages and the types of damages available and extending the statute of limitations for such suits to 3-1/2 years from two years awaits the governor’s signature after passage by the Senate and Assembly June 2.
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June 15, 2022
Magistrate Judge: Asbestos Plaintiffs Don’t Have Info Guaranty Association Seeks
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal magistrate judge on June 13 denied a motion to compel responses to discovery filed by the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), the statutory obliger for an insolvent insurer in an asbestos exposure suit filed against the insurer, finding that plaintiffs lack the information requested and that LIGA’s settlement-related request is “premature.”
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June 15, 2022
Judge Sets Hearing, Appoints Ethics Expert For Asbestos Pathology Testing Spat
OAKLAND, Calif. — During a June 10 proceeding a California judge set an August hearing where a court-appointed bioethics expert will opine on scientific procedures involving personal medical information and said that in the interim plaintiffs need not produce asbestos pathology material to the defendants but may continue to test existing samples as long as they preserve material for potential future production.
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June 15, 2022
Ford Plans For Daubert Hearing, Seeks Reconsideration On Summary Judgment
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Ford Motor Co. and other defendants on June 10 proposed a schedule for an upcoming hearing on defendants’ motions to exclude asbestos experts while in a separate motion argued that the court improperly denied it summary judgment in reliance on experts it moved to exclude.
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June 15, 2022
With Removing Defendant Dismissed, Judge Remands Illinois Asbestos Case
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Dismissal of the lone defendant claiming federal jurisdiction leaves only state law claims belonging in the plaintiffs’ chosen state court forum, an Illinois federal judge said in remanding an asbestos case on June 10.
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June 10, 2022
COMMENTARY: The State Of COVID-19 Coverage Litigation In The United States: Insurers Are Prevailing In Coverage Cases, But COVID-19 Still Is Contributing To Social Inflation
By Scott M. Seaman and Sarah Anderson
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June 10, 2022
Creditors Of Hess Unit HONX Ask To Intervene In Appeals Of Bankruptcy Orders
HOUSTON — The unsecured creditors’ committee in the Chapter 11 case of Hess Corp. subsidiary HONX Inc. asked a Texas federal court on June 2 to allow it to intervene in two appeals of bankruptcy court adversary proceeding orders filed by hundreds of asbestos disease sufferers whose claims in the tort system are prohibited by the automatic stay pursuant to one of the orders.
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June 09, 2022
New York Court: Multistep Jurisdiction Argument Lacking In Asbestos Valve Case
NEW YORK — Allegations that a company sold asbestos-insulated valves to a boiler company in New York that then sold its product to the Navy for use in San Francisco aboard a drydocked ship lack any documentary support and do not create jurisdiction in the state, a New York appeals court said June 7 in reversing a ruling denying a motion to dismiss.
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June 09, 2022
Noting $157.2M Asbestos Settlement, Insurer Files Suits Against Reinsurers
Noting that a court recently approved its $157.2 million settlement with the state of Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures, National Indemnity Co. (NICO) on June 6 filed two suits in Nebraska federal court seeking declaratory judgment against reinsurers it said it had just billed for their portions of the loss; on June 7, NICO moved in Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss or transfer a declaratory judgment suit that one of the reinsurers had filed there over the same issue.
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June 09, 2022
Judge Sets Hearing, Appoints Ethics Expert For Asbestos Pathology Testing Spat
OAKLAND, Calif. — A dispute over whether and to what extent defendants in an asbestos action may perform testing on pathology materials will come before a California judge on June 10 after the judge appointed an expert on biomedical ethics in what is at least the second such challenge in the court.
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June 07, 2022
New York Court Affirms Jurisdiction Over Asbestos Talc Company
NEW YORK — A flight attendant’s monthly trips to New York, her use of a talc product and that company’s office and other activities in the state are sufficient for personal jurisdiction, a New York appeals court said June 2.