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Mealey's Asbestos

  • July 30, 2021

    Imerys Asbestos Claimants Seek TRO To Halt Reported Johnson & Johnson Restructuring

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Asbestos claimants in the Chapter 11 case of talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO) July 28 in the debtor’s recently filed adversary action in Delaware federal bankruptcy court against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) seeking to prevent J&J from avoiding its indemnity obligations to the debtor through a corporate restructuring designed to rid itself of its liability for asbestos claims.

  • July 30, 2021

    Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002

    Summary: The following is a listing of plaintiff and defense experts who testified in trials covered by Mealey's Litigation Report: Asbestos since Jan. 1, 2002.

  • July 30, 2021

    Asbestos Verdicts & Settlements: January 2020 – December 2020

    Every year, the Mealey’s Litigation Report:  Asbestos compiles, analyzes and reports on verdict information appearing in the report from the previous calendar year.  The following report contains that information.

  • July 28, 2021

    COMMENTARY: Why Developing And Presenting Alternative Exposure Evidence Is Vital To The Defense Of Asbestos And Talc Cases

    By James A. Lowery III and Theodore C. Yarbrough

  • July 29, 2021

    Mineral Mislabeling, J&J’s Knowledge At Issue In Asbestos-Talc Trial

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A former teacher and two Johnson & Johnson entities continued trading jabs July 28 in a virtual trial in a California court over whether her mesothelioma arose from asbestos in talc products and whether her experts were ignoring that talc can’t cause the disease and mislabeling other minerals as asbestos.

  • July 29, 2021

    Suit Claims J&J Knowingly Targeted Marketing Of Unsafe Talc At Black Women

    MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson targeted talcum powder advertising at black women despite knowing its perineal use could cause ovarian cancer, the National Council of Negro Women allege in a July 27 lawsuit filed in a New Jersey state court.

  • July 29, 2021

    Magistrate Judge Denies Motion Seeking Communications With Talc Consulting Expert

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A plaintiff previously produced both the five-page and three-page reports from a consulting expert in an asbestos-talc case satisfying discovery obligations, and the “minor differences” in the “virtually identical” documents do not warrant requiring production of all communications between plaintiff and his consulting expert, a federal magistrate judge in North Carolina said July 8.

  • July 29, 2021

    Doe Defendant Naming, Statute Of Limitations At Play In Asbestos Friction Appeal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A widow and an asbestos friction-product defendant recently briefed a California appeals court on whether the naming of a Doe defendant related back to the original wrongful death filing or whether testimony given in a prior personal injury action provided sufficient grounds to name the company at the time of filing.

  • July 29, 2021

    Power Company Can’t Dodge Asbestos Premises Claims, Georgia Plaintiffs Say

    ATLANTA — A record contains sufficient evidence that a power company whose use of asbestos was so prolific it cannot identify start-and-stop points for its use exposed a man to asbestos, and nothing in Georgia law protects it from liability, a couple tells a state appellate court in a June 29 brief.

  • July 29, 2021

    Diversity Destroying Amendment ‘Suspicious,’ Judge Says In Asbestos-Talc Case

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on July 15 deemed “suspicious” a man’s attempts at joining two diversity destroying retailer defendants to an asbestos case on the heels of removal and likely transfer to multidistrict litigation, but concluded that the claims are likely also barred by the statute of limitations and invalid and denied remand and granted stay.

  • July 28, 2021

    J&J Largely Prevails In Asbestos-Talc MDL Document Privilege Spat

    TRENTON, N.J. — Most communications involving two Johnson & Johnson entities’ in-house counsel are privileged, as are in-house communications with outside public relations firms hired to assist with the onslaught of interest in litigation against the companies, a special master overseeing the federal asbestos-talc multidistrict litigation said July 26 in ruling on plaintiffs' objections to privilege claims.

  • July 27, 2021

    Asbestos Case Proceeds To Bench Trial After Statute Of Limitations Ruling

    SAN FRANCISCO — A judge heard opening arguments in a bench trial on July 26 in an asbestos colon cancer case involving a drywall taper after a judge in California said the novel coronavirus made meeting the original deadline for trial “impossible, impracticable, or futile” and that the defendant waived the defense by not objecting earlier.

  • July 27, 2021

    Court Won’t Rehear Jurisdiction, Sanction Rulings In NASA Engineer Asbestos Case

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 22 declined to reconsider whether a NASA engineer’s asbestos exposure claims belong in federal court and rulings on the appropriateness of sanctions for discovery violations and the application of Louisiana’s workers’ compensation exclusivity provision.

  • July 23, 2021

    Judge Cites Deficiencies In Briefing, Orders Jurisdictional Discovery

    TRENTON, N.J. — Because deficiencies in the briefing make a ruling on jurisdiction over a friction-parts asbestos defendant impossible, further discovery must be done on the issue, a federal judge in New Jersey said July 15 in denying a motion to dismiss without prejudice.

  • July 23, 2021

    Court: Oil Company Defendants Owed No Duty To Iranian Refinery Workers

    LOS ANGELES — The family of a man allegedly exposed to asbestos at an Iranian facility has not shown that the oil company defendants they sued controlled the worksite or that they otherwise had a duty to prevent asbestos exposures at the site, a California appeals court said July 7.

  • July 21, 2021

    Evidence Of Asbestos Exposure Through Man’s Work Lacking, Magistrate Judge Says

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Even assuming a man’s work included asbestos-containing Crane Co. products, insufficient evidence suggests that the work exposed him to asbestos, a federal magistrate judge in Delaware said in a July 16 report and recommendation.

  • July 21, 2021

    Judge:  Widow Can’t Link Asbestos Exposure To Defendant’s Products

    SEATTLE — A woman successfully alleges exposure to asbestos and the presence of a defendant’s products aboard the same U.S. Navy vessels on which her decedent served but never establishes exposure from those specific products, a federal judge in Washington said July 19 in granting summary judgment.

  • July 20, 2021

    Mesothelioma Deposition Time Cap Passes Muster, California Court Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A narrowly tailored statute capping defendants’ time for deposing mesothelioma sufferers does not permit a trial judge to grant additional time, and substantial evidence shows that defendants were not precluded from participating, alleviating any due process concerns, a California appeals court said July 19.

  • July 20, 2021

    Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002

    Summary: The following is a listing of plaintiff and defense experts who testified in trials covered by Mealey's Litigation Report: Asbestos since Jan. 1, 2002.

  • July 20, 2021

    Washington Jury Finds For Brake Defendant After In-Person Asbestos Trial

    TACOMA, Wash. — An in-person Washington state jury on July 6 awarded friction product defendant Pneumo Abex LLC a defense verdict in an asbestos case.