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Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

  • May 17, 2019

    Fraser’s Asbestos Claimants Seek To Pursue Recovery Against Insurance Carriers

    TACOMA, Wash. — Asbestos claimants of Chapter 11 debtor Fraser’s Boiler Service Inc. on May 14 sought relief from the automatic stay in Washington federal bankruptcy court so they can continue their lawsuits seeking damages only from the company’s insurers (In re:  Fraser’s Boiler Service, Inc., No. 18-41245, W.D. Wash. Bkcy.).

  • May 13, 2019

    Federal Judge’s Ruling Provides Potential Guidance In J&J Asbestos Removal Fight

    NEW YORK — A federal judge on May 9 declined an emergency motion seeking to bring state court asbestos-talc actions against Johnson & Johnson into federal court, potentially providing some guidance to a judge who on May 6 cited the Imerys Talc America Inc. bankruptcy case at the heart of the motion as the basis for staying more than two dozen asbestos-talc actions while allowing “placeholder” remand motions (In re: Various removed state court action against, inter alia, Johnson & Johnson (State Court Talc Actions), No. 19-3530, S.D. N.Y.).

  • May 13, 2019

    Judge Overseeing Case At Heart Of J&J Stay Motion Denies Asbestos-Talc Transfers

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Johnson & Johnson said in a May 1 reply brief that a federal judge should follow in the footsteps of a Southern District of New York colleague and stay an asbestos-talc case, but on May 9, a judge in a separate case on which the company relied in its motion denied its emergency motion seeking to use a supplier’s bankruptcy to haul state court talc cases against it into federal court (John Castro, et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., et al., No. 19-279, W.D. N.Y.).

  • May 13, 2019

    Johnson & Johnson’s Bid For Speedy Transfer Of State Cases Rejected

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on May 9 denied Johnson & Johnson’s “emergency” request to transfer 2,400 state court talc and asbestos actions to his court due to the bankruptcy filing of talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc., agreeing with tort plaintiffs that Johnson & Johnson created its own emergency by suddenly removing hundreds of suits before the transfer dispute was decided (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-mc-00103, D. Del., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78145).

  • May 10, 2019

    Bankruptcy Judge In Talc Case Sets ‘Undivided Loyalty’ As New Standard For FCR

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on May 8 eschewed the long-used “disinterestedness” standard for naming a legal representative for future claimants in asbestos Chapter 11 cases before ruling that the candidate for future claimants’ representative (FCR) proposed by debtor talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. must provide additional disclosures before being appointed (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-bk-10289, D. Del. Bkcy., 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 1452).

  • May 9, 2019

    Trust Seeks To Appeal Denial Of Summary Judgment In Indemnification Dispute

    NEW YORK — The asbestos personal injury trust established in the Thorpe Insulation Co. Chapter 11 case on May 6 sought interlocutory review in New York federal court of a federal bankruptcy court’s denial of its bid for summary judgment on the question of whether the Johns-Manville Corp. asbestos trust must indemnify the Thorpe trust for settlements made to claimants of both companies (Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust v. Thorpe Insulation Company Asbestos Settlement Trust, No. 19-04039, S.D. N.Y.).

  • May 7, 2019

    Montana High Court Seeks More Briefing On Railway Asbestos Case

    HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on April 16 asked for full briefing on the state’s asbestos court’s conclusion that federal law did not preempt asbestos claims against BNSF Railway Co. and that the defendant could be strictly liable (BNSF Railway Co. v. The Asbestos Claims Court of the State of Montana, et al., Nos. OP 19-0085, DA 19-0085, Mont. Sup., 2019 Mont. LEXIS 151).

  • May 7, 2019

    Debtor, U.S. Trustee Debate Value Of Recent FCR Ruling In Fairbanks

    TRENTON, N.J. — A Georgia federal bankruptcy court’s recent decision appointing a future claimants’ representative (FCR) in the asbestos Chapter 11 case of The Fairbanks Co. has no effect on the U.S. trustee’s appeal of the FCR appointment for Duro Dyne National Corp. because the Duro Dyne court followed the procedures outlined in Fairbanks’ case, Duro Dyne says in an April 29 letter to a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court in response to the trustee’s letter on supplemental authority (Andrew R. Vara v. Duro Dyne National Corp., et al., No. 3:18-cv-15563, D. N.J.).

  • May 6, 2019

    Johnson & Johnson Loses Attempt To Corral Meso Case Into Imerys’ Bankruptcy

    LOS ANGELES — It is more equitable to allow a woman dying of mesothelioma to have her day in court than to permit defendant Johnson & Johnson to transfer the case to the home court of a bankrupt talc supplier with thousands of other cases “for an efficient adjudication,” a California federal judge held May 3 in remanding the lawsuit to state court (Carolyn Weirick, et al. v. Brenntag North America, Inc., et al., No. 2:19-cv-03036, C.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75252).

  • May 3, 2019

    Johnson & Johnson’s Bid For Speedy Relief Should Be Denied, Plaintiff Lawyers Say

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Johnson & Johnson’s “emergency” request to transfer 2,400 state court talc and asbestos actions to federal court in Delaware due to the bankruptcy filing of talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. should be rebuffed because Johnson & Johnson created its own emergency by suddenly removing hundreds of suits before the transfer dispute was decided, attorneys representing tort claimants say in May 1 letters to the court (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-mc-00103, D. Del.).

  • April 25, 2019

    Judge Used Wrong Standard In Axing Property Damage Appeal, 3rd Circuit Told

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal district court clearly erred in finding that a hospital’s appeal of a bankruptcy court’s denial of certification for a class of property owners seeking damages for asbestos use by former Chapter 11 debtor W.R. Grace & Co. was interlocutory and therefore had to be dismissed, the hospital argues in an April 11 opening brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (In re Grace & Co., et al., No. 18-1960, 3rd Cir.).

  • April 25, 2019

    Debtor Takes Fight For $13.7 Million In Insurer Settlements To 9th Circuit

    TACOMA, Wash. — Chapter 11 debtor Fraser’s Boiler Service Inc. on April 2 appealed a federal district court’s reversal of two bankruptcy court approvals of settlements with asbestos insurers totaling $13.7 million to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (Fraser’s Boiler Service, Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, et al, No. 19-35269, 9th Cir.).

  • April 23, 2019

    Bankruptcy Judge Sets Process, Standards For Naming Future Claimants’ Rep

    ROME, Ga. — The U.S. Trustee’s Office won one and lost one April 17 when a Georgia federal bankruptcy judge agreed with its idea to appoint a future claimants’ representative (FCR) in an asbestos bankruptcy case from a pool of candidates, but then selected the debtor’s nominee for the job, whom the trustee had opposed (In re The Fairbanks Company, No. 18-41768, N.D. Ga. Bkcy., 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 1220).

  • April 22, 2019

    Plaintiff: W.R. Grace’s Workers’ Comp Insurer’s Role Created Asbestos Liability

    HELENA, Mont. — W.R. Grace & Co.’s workers’ compensation insurer took affirmative steps involving facility safety measures and was not, as it contends, an innocent bystander with no duty to prevent employee asbestos exposures, a plaintiff tells the Montana Supreme Court in an April 18 brief (Maryland Casualty Co. v. The Asbestos Claims Court, et al., No. OP 19-0051, Mont. Sup.).

  • April 19, 2019

    Johnson & Johnson Seeks To Consolidate Cancer Cases Against Debtor Talc Supplier

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Roughly 2,300 claims alleging that cosmetic talcum powder caused cancer in women should be transferred from state courts across the country to Delaware federal court, where talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection to rid itself of the claims by establishing a trust to pay them, leading talc maker Johnson & Johnson says in an April 18 motion seeking to consolidate the cases (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-mc-00103, D. Del.).

  • April 19, 2019

    Couple Allowed To Bypass Stay So They Can Dismiss Debtor From State Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on April 17 lifted the automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case of Imerys Talc America Inc. to allow a couple to drop their claims against the debtor in a state court action so they can pursue claims against nonbankrupt defendants (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-bk-10289, D. Del. Bkcy.).

  • April 17, 2019

    Duro Dyne Parties Submit Proposed Findings On Reorganization Plan

    TRENTON, N.J. — Any remaining objections to the plan of reorganization for Chapter 11 debtor Duro Dyne National Corp. should be overruled, and the plan should be confirmed, the debtor, the asbestos claimants’ committee and the embattled future claimants’ representative (FCR) tell a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court in April 15 proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (In re:  Duro Dyne National Corp., et al., No. 18-27963, D. N.J. Bkcy.).

  • April 12, 2019

    U.S. Trustee Challenges Talc Supplier’s Choice For Future Claimants’ Rep

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A longtime advocate for future asbestos disease sufferers in corporate bankruptcies was hit April 10 with another challenge by the U.S. Trustee’s Office to his proposed appointment to the role again, with the acting trustee filing an objection in the Delaware bankruptcy court Chapter 11 case of Imerys Talc America Inc. (In re:  Imerys Talc America, Inc., et al., No. 1:19-bk-10289, D. Del. Bkcy.).

  • April 9, 2019

    W.R. Grace Workers’ Comp Insurer Says It Owed No Duty To Prevent Asbestos Exposures

    HELENA, Mont. — A workers’ compensation insurer’s discussions with its insureds did not create a duty to prevent an employee’s exposure to asbestos, a W.R. Grace & Co. insurer and its amicus curiae tell the Montana Supreme Court in March 21 briefs (Maryland Casualty Co. v. The Asbestos Claims Court, et al., No. OP 19-0051, Mont. Sup.).

  • April 5, 2019

    Fairbanks, Asbestos Committee Go To Bat For Their Candidate For FCR

    ROME, Ga. — Chapter 11 debtor The Fairbanks Co. and the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants for the case filed supplemental briefs March 26 in support of their candidate for future claimants’ representative (FCR), telling a Georgia federal bankruptcy court that he should be selected over candidates proposed by the U.S. Trustee’s Office because he is more qualified (In re The Fairbanks Company, No. 18-41768, N.D. Ga. Bkcy.).