Mealey's Asbestos
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October 11, 2023
Family Waives Response To LHWCA ‘Twilight Zone’ Asbestos Petition
NEW ORLEANS — The family of a maritime worker whose state law asbestos tort the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals allowed as falling within the Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) “twilight zone” indicated Oct. 10 that they would not respond to a U.S. Supreme Court petition claiming that the “result-driven” opinion ignores the law’s unambiguous preemption clause and threatens far-reaching consequences.
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October 11, 2023
Johnson & Johnson Debtor Seeks Direct Appeal Of Dismissal To 3rd Circuit
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on Oct. 10 stayed briefing in the appeal by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC of dismissal of its second Chapter 11 case until the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decides whether to grant the company’s request for a direct appeal to that court.
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October 10, 2023
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.
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October 10, 2023
New York Special Master Won’t Allow Deposition Of Asbestos-Talc Expert
NEW YORK — Worrying that allowing an expert deposition in an asbestos-talc case could open the floodgates to such moves in New York, which generally doesn’t permit expert depositions, a special master recommended rejecting a defendant’s argument that the unique factors in the case and expert Jacqueline Moline’s report warranted such a drastic departure.
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October 10, 2023
Justice: Evidence And Argument Both Lacking In New York Asbestos Case
NEW YORK — A witness lacks the personal knowledge necessary to testify regarding the asbestos-use practices of a caulk company, and when that testimony is contrasted with the specifics identified in the plaintiffs’ experts’ testimony, the evidence is not sufficient to overcome summary judgment, a New York justice held while differentiating recent precedent involving causation in an asbestos-talc case.
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October 10, 2023
Justice Finds Nemeth’s Reach Limited, Denies Reargument In Asbestos Case
NEW YORK — Recent asbestos litigation precedent on causation involving an “extraordinary post-trial remedy” has little relevance to a summary judgment motion and would not change the outcome, a justice in New York said in denying reargument.
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October 10, 2023
'Visibly Angry’ Juror Caused $8.8M Asbestos Verdict, Pipe Maker Says
LOS ANGELES — “Serious juror misconduct” by two jurors who interjected their own anger and biases into an asbestos trial and a verdict form that fatally failed to include potentially liable nonparties require a Los Angeles court to grant a new trial, an asbestos pipe manufacturer told the court after a nearly $9 million verdict.
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October 06, 2023
Man: Reject Feigned Prejudice From Supplemental Asbestos Expert Disclosures
NEW YORK — Defendants’ efforts at creating the appearance of prejudice from an asbestos-talc expert’s supplemental report ignore that they deposed the witness with full knowledge of her opinions and knew almost immediately of a new article on which she relies, a plaintiff tells a federal judge in New York in opposing a motion to preclude the supplemental report.
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October 06, 2023
J&J Entities Must Face Asbestos-Talc Liabilities, New Jersey Judge Says
TRENTON, N.J. — A man adequately alleges that asbestos-talc liabilities followed the assets and operations from Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. to various entities resulting from Johnson & Johnson restructuring and placing LTL Management LLC into bankruptcy, a New Jersey judge said in denying a motion to dismiss.
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October 05, 2023
Judge Says Avondale’s Reintroduction Warrants Third-Party Complaint
NEW ORLEANS — Because recent precedent resulted in a shipyard previously granted summary judgment being reintroduced into an asbestos case, the interests of justice warrant allowing the filing of a third-party demand naming it, a federal judge in Louisiana said in granting reconsideration.
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October 05, 2023
Experts, Punitive Damages Among Issues Company Wants Reviewed by S.C. High Court
ANDERSON, S.C. — Appellate court errors involving the sophisticated intermediary doctrine, punitive damages, expert testimony and sanctions support review of an asbestos verdict by the South Carolina Supreme Court, a company told the court in a petition for review.
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October 05, 2023
Nemeth Not The Right Asbestos Standard At Summary Judgment, Justice Says
NEW YORK — A defendant misstates recent precedent establishing the standard for demonstrating causation at the summary judgment stage in an asbestos case, a New York justice said in denying summary judgment.
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October 05, 2023
5th Circuit Revives Asbestos FELA Case Based On Tolling Agreement
NEW ORLEANS — An accord covering asbestos cases against a railroad employer unambiguously tolled the statute of limitations for a year, and longer with the agreement of the parties, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Oct. 4 in reversing summary judgment in a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) case and remanding for consideration of whether the parties entered into such an agreement.
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October 04, 2023
New Jersey Court Faults Asbestos-Talc Expert Admissions, Topples $224M Award
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Given the apparent defects in expert opinions a trial judge improperly admitted three asbestos experts in a talc case without first holding a hearing on whether their methodologies and opinions were reliable, a New Jersey appeals court said Oct. 3 in reversing a $223.8 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and remanding for a new trial.
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October 03, 2023
Talc Mining Company Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Over Asbestos Claims
HOUSTON — Talc mining company Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) filed a Chapter 11 petition on Oct. 2 in Texas federal bankruptcy court looking to sell the business and use the proceeds to help fund a trust to pay asbestos claims, saying the business can no longer afford to litigate an increasing number of lawsuits alleging personal injuries caused by exposure to talc purportedly contaminated with asbestos.
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September 29, 2023
Judge Admits Asbestos Experts, Allows Take-Home Claims, Finds No Preemption
NEW ORLEANS — Sufficient evidence supports take-home asbestos exposure allegations even if the fact pattern differs significantly from the usual type of take-home case, and the claims are not preempted by the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) under the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ precedent interpreting “twilight zone” cases, a federal judge in Louisiana said in a series of five rulings.
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September 29, 2023
Ford Stuck With $20M Asbestos Verdict After Court Finds No Error
ST. LOUIS — None of the nine issues Ford Motor Co. raised in an appeal of a $20 million asbestos verdict demonstrate an error, a Missouri appeals court said in affirming the verdict without a written opinion.
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September 26, 2023
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.
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September 25, 2023
Boiler Company Must Face Asbestos Punitive Damages Claim, New York Justice Says
NEW YORK — Under the gross negligence standard, a man may proceed with punitive damages claims in New York based on allegations that a boiler company never placed a warning on its product about the dangers of asbestos, a New York justice said.
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September 22, 2023
Former Federal Asbestos MDL Judge To Become Arbitration Specialist
PHILADELPHIA — Long-time federal asbestos multidistrict litigation Judge Eduardo Robreno joined McCarter & English as an arbitrator, according to an announcement from the firm.
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September 22, 2023
Justice: Flight Attendant Asbestos Exposure Case Meets N.Y. Causation Standard
NEW YORK — Allegations that a Texas flight attendant applied asbestos-tainted talcum powder during layovers in New York and the defendant’s business in the state mean that New York causation law applies to her case and expert testimony that the talc mines contained asbestos meet the applicable standard, a New York justice said in denying a pair of motions for summary judgment.
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September 21, 2023
Talc Study Authors Move To Dismiss Suit By Johnson & Johnson Spinoff
TRENTON, N.J. — Fraud claims leveled by Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) former bankrupt affiliate LTL Management LLC against three pathologists over their study of mesothelioma patients and their use of talcum powder should be tossed because the allegations “are not only implausible, but frivolous,” the doctors say in a motion to dismiss in New Jersey federal court.
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September 20, 2023
Asbestos Talc Study Author Seeks Dismissal Of Suit By J&J Former Debtor
TRENTON, N.J. — Claims for trade libel, fraud and federal trademark law violations asserted by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC against the author of an asbestos talc study should be dismissed because they are all meritless, the author says in a motion in New Jersey federal court.
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September 20, 2023
J&J: Asbestos-Talc Verdict Tagged Wrong Party, Lacked Causation Evidence
LOS ANGELES — In post-trial briefing after an $18.8 million verdict, Johnson & Johnson told a California judge that it wasn’t the party responsible for the talcum powder in question and that there is insufficient evidence that asbestos can cause pericardial mesothelioma.
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September 19, 2023
Johnson & Johnson Debtor, Supporting Counsel Appeal Dismissal Of 2nd Bankruptcy
TRENTON, N.J. — Attorneys who support continuing the second Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC on Sept. 18 filed a statement of issues on appeal joining the debtor’s issues on appeal of a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge’s dismissal of the case for failure to show that the company was in “imminent” or “immediate” financial distress.