Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

March 16, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendants Face Punitive Damages After $20M Verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A federal judge set briefing on the issue of punitive damages after a Connecticut jury found against both asbestos defendants and awarded $20 million in compensatory damages to a woman.
March 15, 2023
Washington Court Rejects Causation, Exposure Challenges To $16.67M Asbestos Verdict

SEATTLE — Evidence that a company supplied more than 140 asbestos-containing dryer felts to a facility during the time of a man’s alleged exposure and evidence regarding the work done at the facility established exposure and causation, and any error in a curative instruction was harmless, a Washington appeals court said in affirming a $16.67 million plaintiff verdict.
March 15, 2023
Bestwall Asbestos Claimants Get Discovery Sanctions Appeal Put On Hold

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has placed in abeyance an appeal by asbestos personal injury claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC of the dismissal of their challenges to a bankruptcy judge’s contempt finding against them for not providing complete information to the debtor in a discovery questionnaire, pending a decision in two similar appeals that were consolidated.
March 14, 2023
Oregon Jury Awards $18.5M In Asbestos Case Against Talc Supplier

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury awarded $18.5 million on negligence and product liability claims stemming from a woman’s death from mesothelioma after exposure to Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) talc.
March 13, 2023
Claimants Oppose Rehearing For 3rd Circuit’s Dismissal Of J&J Debtor’s Bankruptcy

PHILADELPHIA — Rehearing of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC should be dismissed is not needed because the panel correctly held that the debtor was not in financial distress, which is “an ordinary requirement for bankruptcy,” the committee of asbestos claimants in the case tells the court in a brief in opposition to the debtor’s rehearing bid.
March 13, 2023
United States Seeks Reconsideration Of Libby, Mont., Asbestos Deposition Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States has asked for leave to file a motion for reconsideration, telling a federal judge in Montana that having two agencies appear for deposition in a dispute over fraud claims stemming from asbestos-related Medicare claims related to Libby, Mont., would require marshalling numerous individuals from several different agencies and asking them to duplicate already performed work without any likelihood of producing relevant evidence.
March 13, 2023
Judge Reduces California Asbestos Award, Otherwise Denies Post-Trial Motions

LOS ANGELES — A California judge mostly denied two asbestos-talc defendants’ motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, agreeing only that the award for future noneconomic damages should be reduced to $17.5 million from $25 million.
March 08, 2023
Asbestos Pipe Maker Free From Punitive Damages After N.Y. Court Denies Reargument

NEW YORK — A New York appeals court denied a motion for reargument of its decision that allegations that a pipe manufacturer committed gross negligence by not labeling every length of asbestos-containing pipe with a warning do not rise to the type of malice required for a punitive damages claim.
March 07, 2023
South Carolina Jury Awards $29.1M In Asbestos-Talc Case

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Plaintiffs awarded $29,139,691 in an asbestos-talc case against Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc.(WCD) have asked the court to appoint a receiver for the company, saying that if it isn’t there already, the company faces “imminent danger” of future insolvency.
February 24, 2023
Government Must Testify In Medicare-Asbestos Fraud Case, Judge Says

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana granted a joint motion to compel trial testimony from two government entities on possibly fraudulent Medicare claims stemming from Libby, Mont., asbestos exposures, saying that they alone possessed the information and that the evidence was material to the case.
February 23, 2023
‘Devastating Consequences’ If Study Subject Identities Are Released, Briefs Warn

NEW YORK — Expert Jacqueline Moline, her employer and an asbestos plaintiff tell a federal judge in New York in Feb. 22 letter briefs that experts on both sides agree that study participants retain an expectation of privacy even if their information becomes available through other means and warn of the “devastating consequences” should the court deviate from that bedrock principle and require disclosure of their identities.
February 23, 2023
Bankruptcy Judge Confirms Asbestos Debtor ON Marine’s Plan Of Liquidation

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal bankruptcy judge has entered findings of fact, conclusions of law and an order approving and confirming the combined plan of liquidation and disclosure statement for Chapter 11 debtor ON Marine Services Co. LLC, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 under the weight of thousands of asbestos personal injury claims.
February 22, 2023
Claimant Seeks Dismissal Of Chapter 11 Case Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor Bestwall

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With two federal circuit courts recently ruling on what constitutes a bad faith bankruptcy in cases also involving debtors created in corporate restructurings to absorb affiliates’ asbestos liability, it’s time to again look at whether the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC should be dismissed for lack of the “overwhelming liability” required of a debtor to enter bankruptcy, an asbestos claimant and his wife say in a motion to dismiss filed more than three years after a North Carolina U.S. bankruptcy judge denied a dismissal bid by the asbestos claimants’ committee.
February 22, 2023
J&J Says 3rd Circuit Ruling Doesn’t Lift Stay Of UCL Asbestos Claims Appeal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision dissolving the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy does not lift a stay in the appeal of a federal lawsuit claiming that two companies violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws by withholding information about asbestos contamination of talc because the court has yet to issue a mandate and won’t until resolution of a rehearing petition, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI) tells the Ninth Circuit in a status report.
February 21, 2023
Georgia-Pacific Debtor Says LTL Management Ruling Moots Injunction Arguments

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should not consider arguments on appeal by Georgia-Pacific bankrupt unit Bestwall LLC regarding the issuance of an injunction protecting nondebtor affiliates from asbestos claims in the separate Chapter 11 case of a Johnson & Johnson spinoff because the Third Circuit’s recent rejection of that case means the injunction ruling is now invalid, asbestos claimants’ representatives tell the Fourth Circuit in a recent notice of supplemental authority.
February 21, 2023
New York Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Fiber Supplier Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Erie County jury returned a defense verdict for plastics company’s fiber supplier, sources told Mealey Publications.
February 17, 2023
Mediation Protocols Set For Asbestos Bankruptcies Of Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Units

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge approved the mediators and set the conditions for negotiations among debtors Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC, affiliates Ingersoll-Rand and Trane and representatives for asbestos personal injury claimants on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases and creation of an asbestos trust.
February 16, 2023
Freed From Stay, 24-Year-Old With Meso Seeks Trial Against J&J

LOS ANGELES — Now that a judge lifted the stay imposed by the LTL Management bankruptcy, an asbestos-talc case may be fully prosecuted at trial within the next 60 days, a 24-year-old man suffering from mesothelioma tells a California judge in a case management statement.
February 16, 2023
Parties To Asbestos Suit Get More Time To Argue Intentional Injury Case

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals court extended oral arguments for each side after hearing from amici about whether knowingly causing repeated exposures to asbestos falls within the workers’ compensation exclusivity provisions exception for intentional injury and whether insurers could legally dissolve a bankrupt entity.
February 16, 2023
Judge: Lack Of Supporting Evidence Dooms Fees Award In Remanded Asbestos Fight

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington said she could not award attorney fees based on blanket statements about the hours spent fighting against removal of an asbestos case the court previously found lacked any objectively reasonable basis.
February 15, 2023
4th Circuit Rejects Insurer’s Challenges To Kaiser’s Plan Confirmation

RICHMOND, Va. — The primary insurer for Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. lacks standing not only under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code but also under the Constitution to challenge the debtors’ confirmed plan of reorganization, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Feb. 14, affirming the plan confirmation.
February 15, 2023
Johnson & Johnson Debtor Seeks Redo Of 3rd Circuit Order To Dismiss Case

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ recent finding that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC filed for bankruptcy in bad faith because it was not in financial distress conflicts with precedent and “will create fundamental problems in future bankruptcy cases,” the debtor says in a petition for rehearing.
February 13, 2023
Hess, Chapter 11 Unit HONX Say They Have Reached Deal With Asbestos Claimants

HOUSTON — Hess Corp., its Chapter 11 debtor affiliate HONX Inc. and asbestos claimants have reached an agreement on a plan of reorganization for the debtor that will establish a trust to evaluate and resolve the asbestos claims, according to a stipulation the parties filed in Texas federal bankruptcy court calling for a stay of all litigation and the filing of a plan and disclosure statement within 60 days.
February 09, 2023
Judge Seeks Response On Evidence Protection In Asbestos Trust Auditing Case

JACKSON, Miss. — With a motion for reconsideration pending on a ruling granting an asbestos trust auditing company summary judgment on tortious interference claims, a federal judge in Mississippi asked the doctor at the heart of the case to respond to a supplemental motion asking the court to continue to restrict access to exhibits relied on in the case.
February 09, 2023
Louisiana Court: Repealed Law Applies, But Dissolved Company Didn’t Comply

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals court granted a dissolved asbestos company’s insurers’ writ application but denied the insurers relief, finding that while a repealed statute imposing a three-year limit on suits against dissolved entities applies to the case, the insurers had not demonstrated that the company met the requirements of the statute to have the claims at hand extinguished.