Mealey's Asbestos
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May 10, 2022
Justice Won’t Compel Deposition Of 84-Year-Old Asbestos Plaintiff
NEW YORK — Interrogatories represent a feasible alternative to continuing the deposition of an 84-year-old woman whose anxiety forced her to prematurely end her testimony, a New York justice said in denying a motion to reargue on April 7.
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May 10, 2022
Friction Defendant’s Naming Relates Back To Asbestos Complaint, Court Says
SAN FRANCISCO — A woman’s knowledge that a company manufactured brake assemblies did not put her on notice that it could be liable for her husband’s asbestos exposures and its naming as a Doe defendant related back to the original complaint and was timely, a California appeals court said April 25 in reversing summary judgment for the defendant.
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May 09, 2022
Magistrate Judge Quashes J&J Subpoenas Seeking Asbestos-Talc Media Messages
TRENTON, N.J. — Two Johnson & Johnson entities have not shown that the private communications between the news media and attorneys or their asbestos expert is sufficiently relevant to securities litigation against the company over representations about its talc as to be discoverable, a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey said April 29 in quashing subpoenas.
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May 09, 2022
Plaintiff: John Crane’s Challenges To $18M Asbestos Verdict Fall Short
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — John Crane Inc. overstates or misstates its case in challenges to how a trial court handled the admission of a causation expert, Florida asbestos law and jury instructions, a widow says April 25 in defending an $18 million verdict.
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May 06, 2022
9th Circuit: Maritime Wrongful Death Claim Began At Death, Not Asbestos Injury
SAN FRANCISCO — The three-year statute of limitations on a maritime wrongful death asbestos action began when the seaman died, not when he first learned of his injury, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said April 29 in reversing summary judgment for three defendants
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May 06, 2022
U.S., Railway Battle Over Privacy In Libby, Mont., Asbestos-Screening Lawsuit
MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States on April 21 told a judge that federal law protects private Medicare and Social Security information and argued that the information would become relevant to a railway’s case against a Libby, Mont., asbestos screening company only in the event that the court awarded damages. But in an April 28 reply in support of its second motion to compel, the railway said any privacy issues can be remedied by subjecting the relevant evidence to an existing protective order.
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May 05, 2022
Judge Gives Final OK To $10M Honeywell Asbestos Securities Settlement
TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey on May 3 granted final approval of a $10 million class action settlement for claims that Honeywell International Inc. used a five-year reporting window in an effort to avoid disclosing more than $1 billion in asbestos liabilities.
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May 05, 2022
Bankruptcy Trust Auditor Says Lack Of Diligence Dooms Amended Claim
JACKSON, Miss. — A magistrate judge improperly permitted an untimely amendment to an asbestos screening doctor’s action after finding a lack of diligence on the plaintiff’s part, a fatal finding that even the plaintiff concedes by not opposing an objection to the order, a consulting company tells a federal court in Mississippi in a May 2 reply.
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May 03, 2022
Various Defendants, Cross-Claims Dismissed From Arkansas Asbestos Case
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge in Arkansas on April 28 largely granted — or found moot — a variety of motions to dismiss defendants and various cross-claims in an asbestos case against talc and traditional defendants.
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May 03, 2022
Judge: Exposure, Causation Too Heavy A Lift For Forklift Brake Makers
PHILADELPHIA — A man’s testimony that he saw dust in boxes of brakes he opened and that he worked near, and sometimes passed through, the area where mechanics worked with the products combined with admissions that the brakes contained asbestos and expert testimony that the exposures were sufficient to cause mesothelioma keep two companies in a lawsuit, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said April 28 in denying the companies’ motions for summary judgment.
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May 03, 2022
Judge: Dismissal Of Lone Federal Jurisdiction Defendant Warrants Remand
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A joint stipulation dismissing the lone defendant to raise a federal jurisdiction issue makes remand of the remaining asbestos claims the best course of action, a federal judge in Illinois said April 28 in granting remand.
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May 02, 2022
Calif. Court Finds Jurisdiction Over Nationwide Generic Asbestos Dental Product
LOS ANGELES — For jurisdiction purposes, recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires conduct “arising from or related to” the injury, a standard met by evidence that a company sold its asbestos-containing dental product nationwide during the period in question, a California appeals court said April 27.
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May 02, 2022
Judge: Cancerphobia Suit, Medical Records Render Asbestos Cancer Suit Untimely
TAMPA, Fla. — A 1998 lawsuit alleging cancerphobia and prior medical records showing that a man discussed the potential asbestos-disease link show that a man knew or should have known of the potential that past asbestos exposures caused his lung cancer, a federal judge in Florida said in granting a defendant summary judgment on April 27.
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May 02, 2022
Former Hess Refinery Operator Files Chapter 11 Petition Due To Asbestos Claims
HOUSTON — A subsidiary of Hess Corp. filed a Chapter 11 petition in Texas federal bankruptcy court April 28 looking to establish a trust to resolve asbestos and other toxic tort claims stemming from its operation of an oil refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
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April 29, 2022
Despite Discovery Delays, Magistrate Judge Won’t Sanction Asbestos Trust Doctor
JACKSON, Miss. — A federal magistrate judge on April 7 declined to award sanctions for an asbestos screener’s failure to timely produce documents in his suit against an asbestos bankruptcy trust auditor, saying that while the reasons for delay were not compelling, there was no real prejudice.
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April 28, 2022
Bankruptcy Trust Screening Doctor Won’t Oppose Appeal Of Amended Complaint Ruling
JACKSON, Miss. — A B-reader told a federal judge in Mississippi on April 25 that he would not be filing a response to a bankruptcy trust audit company’s objection to and appeal of a magistrate judge’s order allowing him to amend his complaint.
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April 28, 2022
Couple: Discovery Violations In Asbestos Case Warrant $300,000 Asbestos Sanction
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Cleaver-Brooks Inc.’s repeated discovery violations permeated an asbestos case and resulted in a midnight disclosure of a typographical error that changed the case, and to the extent that it claims to still not know what it did wrong, it is simply ignoring the extensive record created by two courts, plaintiffs told the South Carolina Supreme Court April 26 in defending a $300,000 sanction.
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April 27, 2022
New York Court Of Appeals Reverses Asbestos-Talc Verdict On Causation Grounds
NEW YORK — Testing showing that a bottle of talc released asbestos and an expert opinion that the resulting exposure surpassed the levels required for causation fall short of the standard for causation in New York, a majority of the state’s high court said April 26.
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April 26, 2022
Summary Judgment Granted On Mesothelioma Diagnosis, Asbestos Causation
NEW ORLEANS — None of the defendants opposing summary judgment appears to contest a mesothelioma diagnosis, and the arguments of the subset of those defendants challenging general causation miss the point by noting other causes of mesothelioma when the plaintiff’s case rests on the fact that he was exposed to asbestos, a federal judge in Louisiana said April 18.
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April 26, 2022
Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002
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.