Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy
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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
Mesothelioma Claims Bar Date Set In Chapter 11 Case Of CertainTeed Debtor DBMP
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As part of the process to estimate the liability of CertainTeed LLC affiliate and Chapter 11 debtor DBMP LLC for mesothelioma claims, a North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge on June 7 set a deadline for filing proofs of claim and directed claimants to complete a personal injury questionnaire (PIQ).
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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 20, 2022
Cyprus Mines Says Injunctive Relief Needed To Secure Global Resolution
WILMINGTON, Del. — Talc mining company and Chapter 11 debtor Cyprus Mines Corp. filed an adversary action and motion June 7 in Delaware federal bankruptcy court seeking to enjoin all asbestos cases against the debtor and its parent company, saying the relief is paramount to a global resolution of asbestos claims in the Cyprus bankruptcy and in the Chapter 11 case of affiliate talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc.
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June 17, 2022
Owens-Illinois Debtor Paddock Seeks To Have Plan Confirmation Affirmed
WILMINGTON, Del. — Owens-Illinois Inc. spinoff and Chapter 11 asbestos debtor Paddock Enterprises LLC told a Delaware federal court on June 15 that with no appeals or objections filed over the recent confirmation of the debtor’s plan of reorganization, the court should affirm the bankruptcy court’s findings and order.
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June 17, 2022
NARCO Trust Wins Judgment On Some Claims; Briefs Address Remaining Allegations
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal bankruptcy judge should grant an asbestos trust judgment on the remainder of mismanagement claims leveled by former trust affiliate Honeywell International Inc., just as he awarded the trust judgment as a matter of law on two claims and partial judgment on a third claim after a trial in Honeywell’s adversary case, the trust says in a June 14 post-trial brief.
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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 16, 2022
Judge Stays Dismissal Of Asbestos Debtor’s Chapter 7 Case Pending Appeals
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge in June 2 docket entries granted requests by the Chapter 7 trustee and two insurers to stay a bankruptcy court’s dismissal of The Nash Engineering Co.’s asbestos bankruptcy case pending their appeals of the dismissal decision.
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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 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
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 07, 2022
Railway, Libby Asbestos Screener Battle Over Evidence, Senator Baucus’ Testimony
MISSOULA, Mont. — Briefing continued May 20 on whether former Sen. Max Baucus was timely produced as a witness and can testify about his role in and the purpose behind a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision at a forthcoming trial over a railway’s action claiming that a medical screener in Libby, Mont., fraudulently submitted claims under the program.
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June 07, 2022
Jury In California Take-Home Asbestos Door Exposure Case Awards $43.8M
LOS ANGELES — A California jury on May 20 awarded $43.79 million in a take-home asbestos exposure case and found the door manufacturing defendant 50% liable for the woman’s mesothelioma.
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June 06, 2022
California Jury Finds No Link Between Asbestos, Colon Cancer
LOS ANGELES — At the conclusion of a bifurcated trial in California, a jury on May 23 returned a defense verdict for an industrial oven manufacturer, finding that asbestos exposure is not a contributing factor to colon cancer.
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June 06, 2022
Supreme Court Says Split Bankruptcy Fee Scheme Is Unconstitutional
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal law enacted by Congress in 2017 increasing the amount of quarterly bankruptcy fees paid by debtors in all but two states to maintain the U.S. trustee program violates the uniformity requirement of the U.S. Constitution’s bankruptcy clause, the U.S. Supreme Court held June 6 in a unanimous decision.
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June 02, 2022
Former Hess Refinery Operator HONX Requests Estimation Proceeding
HOUSTON — A hearing is scheduled in Texas federal bankruptcy court for a request by Hess Corp. subsidiary and Chapter 11 debtor HONX Inc. for an order authorizing the estimation of the debtor’s aggregate liability for current and future asbestos personal injury claims, according to a June 1 court notice.
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June 02, 2022
Maryland Top Court Finds Internet Talc Samples Admissible Evidence
BALTIMORE — A reasonable juror could conclude that sealed talc bottles obtained from various locations through the internet are original products, and the plaintiff need not have established a chain of custody dating to their creation, the Maryland Court of Appeals said May 31 in affirming a lower court’s reversal of exclusion of the bottles as evidence.
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May 26, 2022
Bankruptcy Judge Dismisses Chapter 7 Case Of Former Pump Maker Nash
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — More than 1,600 asbestos personal injury claims are headed back to the tort system after a Connecticut federal bankruptcy judge on May 25 dismissed the Chapter 7 case of The Nash Engineering Co., saying the Chapter 7 trustee has no authority under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to liquidate or estimate the asbestos claims.
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May 26, 2022
Imerys Talc, Cyprus Mines Mediation With Insurers Extended Through June
WILMINGTON, Del. — Mediation with asbestos insurers on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases of talc mining company Cyprus Mines Corp. and affiliate talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. will continue through at least June 30, according to a stipulation by the parties approved May 23 by a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge.
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May 25, 2022
Debtor ON Marine Says Settlements Reached Over Insurers’ Trust Payments
PITTSBURGH — Chapter 11 debtor ON Marine Services Co. LLC and asbestos claimants have reached an agreement in principle on the amount of money insurers should pay to fund a post-reorganization asbestos trust established by the debtor, according to minutes from a May 5 conference on the status of bankruptcy court-approved mediation.