Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy
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July 26, 2023
Debtor Talc Supplier Battles With Receiver, Claimants Over Direct Appeal
TRENTON, N.J. — A direct appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is warranted for a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge’s refusal to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) because the decision raises unprecedented questions of law, the company’s receiver and the Official Committee of Talc Claimants say in a reply supporting their motion to certify the appeal.
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July 26, 2023
Talc Debtor’s Nominee For FCR Approved By Bankruptcy Court
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge approved the choice of former talc supplier and current Chapter 11 debtor Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) for a future claimants’ representative (FCR) for asbestos claims over the objections of the U.S. trustee and a talc claimants committee.
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July 25, 2023
Asbestos Verdicts & Settlements: January 2022 – December 2022
Every year, 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.
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July 25, 2023
Parties Brief Precedent In Asbestos-Talc Concealment Class Certification Issue
TRENTON, N.J. — Parties in July briefed a federal judge in New Jersey on the impact of a recent Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion and how it impacts Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) motion to deny class certification and strike allegations that it secured favorable settlements and dismissal by fraudulently concealing the presence of asbestos in talc from tort plaintiffs.
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July 25, 2023
Asbestos Firms, Insolvent Insurer Group Duel In Settlement Appeal
NEW ORLEANS — An appeal by two asbestos law firms of a Louisiana federal bankruptcy judge’s approval of a $1 million settlement between the Chapter 7 trustee for a bankrupt insulation supplier and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) should be tossed because the firms’ arguments against dismissal “focus primarily on rehashing their arguments before the Bankruptcy Court,” the trustee and LIGA argue in a reply brief in federal court.
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July 21, 2023
Kentucky High Court Allows Teacher’s Asbestos Claim Against School Board
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s workers’ compensation system applies to a teacher and the school board that employed him, and a statute covering negligence actions against the commonwealth does not preclude the asbestos-related action, the Kentucky Supreme Court said.
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July 21, 2023
California Jury Awards $18.8M Against J&J For Man’s Mesothelioma
LOS ANGELES — A California jury hit Johnson & Johnson with an $18.8 million verdict in an asbestos-talc case freed from the company’s related bankruptcy stay and held it 100% liable for the 25-year-old’s mesothelioma.
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July 21, 2023
Judge Adopts Fees Ruling, Finding Lawyers Never Complied With Court Orders
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland said she agreed “wholesale” with a magistrate judge’s conclusion that much of the litigation over asbestos case referral fees could have been avoided had the defendant simply complied with the court’s discovery order.
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July 20, 2023
Judge Awards Low End Of Penalties In Libby, Mont., Asbestos Diagnosis Case
MISSOULA, Mont. — The federal judge in Montana overseeing the False Claims Act (FCA) dispute between a railroad and the provider of medical care under a special provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) said $2,582,228 in statutory penalties, while at the low end of the permissible range, were sufficient to curtail “reckless disregard for proper medical procedure.”
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July 19, 2023
J&J Says 3rd Circuit Ruling Supports Striking Asbestos-Talc Class Allegations
TRENTON, N.J. — A recent Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion requiring plaintiffs to identify reliable and feasible methods of determining class action members supports striking allegations that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) fraudulently concealed the presence of asbestos in talc from tort plaintiffs, the company told a federal judge in New Jersey in a July 18 letter.
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July 18, 2023
Experts Linking Talcum Powder To Mesothelioma Excluded In Arizona Case
PHOENIX — An Arizona judge granted summary judgment to a manufacturer sued by a man claiming that he developed mesothelioma from repeated exposure to asbestos in talcum powder after finding that experts retained by the man did not show that talc was a substantial contributing factor of his condition.
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July 13, 2023
Supreme Court Directs Response To Insurer’s Challenge To Asbestos Bankruptcy Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has asked Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. to respond to a petition for certiorari filed by their primary insurer asking the court to decide whether the insurer has standing to challenge the debtors’ reorganization plan, after the debtors failed to file any opposition to the petition or waive their response.
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July 12, 2023
Delaware High Court Won’t Review Dissolved Asbestos Company Representation Ruling
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court declined to review a chancery court’s letter ruling holding that dissolved companies such as the asbestos defendant before it cannot retain counsel, saying that the standard for interlocutory appeal had not been met.
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July 12, 2023
Statutory Damages Briefed In Montana Asbestos False Claims Case
MISSOULA, Mont. — Whether a court should impose statutory penalties in excess of $5 million or whether such an award would further harm those suffering from asbestos-related diseases in Libby, Mont., was briefed by parties to a False Claims Act (FCA) case after a jury found 337 violations of a Medicare program instituted under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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July 11, 2023
Asbestos Firm: Motion Ignores ‘Indefensible’ Conduct At Heart Of Sanctions
BALTIMORE — Unable to recast “indefensible” conduct, lawyers hit with more than $1 million in fees and costs for litigation misconduct simply take a magistrate judge’s words out of context and argue that he mischaracterized their arguments, a law firm told a federal court in Maryland overseeing a dispute over asbestos trust referral fees.
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July 10, 2023
California Jury Awards $8.8M In Asbestos Cement Pipe Case
LOS ANGELES — A California jury found for plaintiffs on a variety of asbestos-related claims and awarded in excess of $8.5 million for exposure stemming from cement pipe used by the city of Newport Beach.
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July 10, 2023
J&J Debtor Again Files Fraud Suits Over Asbestos Talc Studies, Articles
TRENTON, N.J. — After leveling fraud claims against the author of an asbestos talc study, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) bankrupt affiliate LTL Management LLC on July 7 filed suit in New Jersey federal court against three pathologists who conducted a follow-up study of malignant mesothelioma patients and their use of talcum powder, saying the debtor “was gravely harmed” by “false statements” the doctors made about their work.
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July 10, 2023
Asbestos Claimants Want Full 4th Circuit To Hear Georgia-Pacific Injunction Appeal
RICHMOND, Va. — A divided decision on injunctive relief by a panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals deserves the attention of the full appellate court because the appeal raises “important questions arising from a wealthy tortfeasor’s abuse of the Bankruptcy Code,” the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants and the future claimants’ representative (FCR) in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific (GP) spinoff Bestwall LLC say in petitions for rehearing en banc.
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June 29, 2023
Montana Jury Finds Against Screener In ACA-Asbestos Medicare Program Fight
MISSOULA, Mont. — A Montana jury on June 28 found that a medical screening company violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly submitting fraudulent asbestos-disease claims under a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicare program designed for residents of Libby, Mont., and awarded $1,081,265.
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June 28, 2023
Talc Company Fights Successor Liability After $20M Asbestos Verdict
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — While a jury may draw inferences from evidence, nothing a jury in an asbestos-talc case heard could allow it to impose liability on one talc company for the actions of a company it purchased, Vanderbilt Minerals LLC told a Connecticut judge on June 27.
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June 28, 2023
Judge Again Excludes Senator’s Testimony In ACA-Asbestos Program Trial
MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana affirmed her decision to exclude the testimony of a former senator instrumental in the crafting of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid program designed for Libby, Mont., residents exposed to asbestos, saying his opinions are not relevant to whether a diagnosing center acted in good faith.
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June 27, 2023
Family Genetic History At Issue In California Asbestos Trial
LOS ANGELES — Responding to a motion in limine seeking to exclude expert testimony, Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary LTL Management LLC told a California judge that comments and evidence about a family history of cancer and heart disease are relevant to a man’s mesothelioma case, even if the cancers in question differ from the one the man suffers from.
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June 27, 2023
Imerys Talc, Cyprus Mines Continue Talks To Resolve Asbestos Talc Bankruptcies
WILMINGTON, Del. — Negotiations with asbestos claimant representatives will continue through at least the end of July on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases of talc mining company Cyprus Mines Corp. and affiliate talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc., according to the latest stipulation among the parties, which was approved by a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge.
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June 22, 2023
Bankruptcy Judge Denies Dismissal Of Talc Supplier’s Chapter 11 Case
TRENTON, N.J. — The appointment of a receiver by a South Carolina court for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) did not take away the authority of the company’s board of directors to file for Chapter 11 protection, a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge held in denying the receiver’s motion to dismiss the case.
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June 21, 2023
4th Circuit Upholds Injunction Protecting Debtor, Georgia-Pacific
RICHMOND, Va. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy court had “related to” jurisdiction to enjoin asbestos litigation against Georgia-Pacific (GP), as the parent of spinoff unit and Chapter 11 debtor Bestwall LLC, and did not abuse its discretion in issuing a preliminary injunction barring the tort litigation, a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held June 20 in affirming.