Mealey's Asbestos
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June 15, 2023
J&J Wants 2nd Look At Magistrate Judge’s Quashing Of Talc Subpoenas
TRENTON, N.J. — A magistrate judge erred when she applied pre-1991 rules in finding third parties subject to a heightened standard for discovery and quashed subpoenas to law firms and attorneys seeking media communications, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) argues in a motion for reconsideration filed in a securities class action in a federal court in New Jersey.
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June 15, 2023
Railway: Plaintiff Delayed Asbestos Trust Claim, Didn’t Disclose Efforts
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An asbestos plaintiff in Montana federal court intentionally delayed an asbestos trust claim for “strategic reasons” and failed to disclose related filings requested in discovery, a railway argues in a June 14 supplement to its response in support of a stay of a trial and opposition to summary judgment.
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June 15, 2023
Asbestos Expert’s Employer Seeks To Quash Study Subject Subpoena, Impose Sanctions
NEW YORK — Asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline’s employer on June 14 asked a court to quash a subpoena from a party to a suit, saying the information the defendant sought was already largely available and that production would violate health information privacy regulations and asking that the court impose sanctions.
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June 14, 2023
Louisiana Asbestos Tort Case Not Preempted By LHWCA, 5th Circuit Says
NEW ORLEANS — A state law asbestos tort action falling into the “twilight zone” of concurrent jurisdiction under the Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) is not preempted, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said, noting the unique circumstance of a case where a man lacked any workers’ compensation claim under Louisiana law.
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June 13, 2023
3M Earplug Subsidiary Appeals Dismissal Of Bankruptcy Case
INDIANAPOLIS — Aearo Technologies LLC and related companies on June 12 appealed dismissal of their Chapter 11 case in which a federal bankruptcy judge found that while the companies face asbestos claims and the largest multidistrict litigation ever in United States, they do not face sufficient financial stress, much like Johnson & Johnson’s spinoff debtor whose case was dismissed in In re LTL Management, Inc., 64 F.4th 84 (3rd Cir. 2023).
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June 12, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Company, Man Argue Over Whether Promise Is Really A Promise At All
NEW YORK — A talc company responded to a man’s claim that it “feigned confusion,” telling a federal judge in New York that a man’s offer not to reference a 2020 study on asbestos and talc appears to be only a promise not to mention the study while allowing witnesses to discuss its findings all while waiting for opponents to open the door to its admission by challenging the testimony.
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June 09, 2023
Punitive Damages, Post-Trial Motions Briefed After $20M Asbestos Verdict
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A plaintiff awarded $20 million in an asbestos action urged a Connecticut judge in a June 8 reply to impose $40 million in punitive damages and said a successor talc company can be held liable because after it purchased its predecessor, it continued with the same reckless conduct.
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June 08, 2023
Man: Asbestos-Talc Study Trial Stipulation ‘Speaks For Itself’
NEW YORK — A company’s “feigned confusion” about a promise not to introduce expert Jacqueline Moline’s 2020 study about asbestos and consumer talc usage during trial and request for clarification are “nonsensical,” a man tells a federal judge in New York in a June 7 letter.
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June 08, 2023
Pa. Court Affirms Transfer Of London Woman’s Asbestos Case From Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania trial court properly transferred a London resident’s asbestos case from Philadelphia County to Cumberland County, the location of the university at which the woman was allegedly exposed, a Pennsylvania appeals court said.
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June 08, 2023
Judge: Military Specifications Warrant Summary Judgment In Asbestos Case
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The evidence shows that the military issued reasonably precise specifications about the products it would use aboard its vessels and the warnings that could appear on those products, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said in granting summary judgment to the last remaining defendant in an asbestos case.
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June 07, 2023
Mesothelioma Sufferer Wants J&J Admonished For Opening Arguments
LOS ANGELES — Johnson & Johnson (J&J) violated court orders precluding comparing the ubiquity of talcum powder and rareness of mesothelioma and its own stipulation regarding reliance on genetics during opening arguments in a prejudicial win-at-all-costs strategy, a man told a California judge in a trial brief asking the court to admonish counsel.
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June 07, 2023
New York Wrongful Death Bill Passes Senate, Heads Back To Governor
ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York Senate on June 6 passed legislation expanding wrongful death actions in the state just a handful of days after the Assembly took similar action sending the bill back to the governor after a previous veto.
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June 07, 2023
Asbestos Plaintiffs Want To Strike Expert Testimony About Heart Condition
LOS ANGELES — No cardiologist would seriously contend that arterial calcification found incidental to other testing could reduce a man’s lifespan without any knowledge of the condition’s extent, a couple in an asbestos exposure case tell a California judge in seeking to strike the expert’s opinion.
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June 06, 2023
Company Wants Clarity On Promise About Offensive Use Of Asbestos-Talc Study
NEW YORK — A talc defendant asked a federal court in New York for clarity on whether and when an asbestos expert, other witnesses and counsel can reference a now withdrawn study on causation, saying the promise to not use it “offensively” provides no real limitations.
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June 06, 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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June 06, 2023
Ford Says Expert, Settlements Warrant Directed Verdict, Amended Judgment
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A woman essentially concedes that her expert’s opinion was based on nothing more than his belief that asbestos friction products were dangerous unless proven otherwise, and settlements more than offset the jury’s entire $275,000 award and any fees, Ford Motor Co. argues in reply briefs in support of motions to amend the judgment and for directed verdict.
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June 06, 2023
Stream Of Commerce Can’t Create Personal Jurisdiction, Court Says
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Vague allegations that a woman might have purchased some talcum powder at a retailer in Florida and evidence that a company introduced a product into the stream of commerce are insufficient evidence on which to establish personal jurisdiction in an asbestos case, a per curiam Florida appeals court said in reversing a lower court.
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June 06, 2023
Missouri Jury Awards $9.7M For 39-Year-Old Woman’s Household Asbestos Exposures
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri jury awarded a widower and an estate $9.7 million for a woman’s take-home exposure to asbestos and resulting death from mesothelioma after the judge in the case said the plaintiff was entitled to sanctions for discovery violations.
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June 05, 2023
New J&J Entity Cites Talc Liability Risks In Regulatory Filing
SKILLMAN, N.J. — Kenvue Inc. said in a June 2 regulatory filing it faces the risk that its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, will ultimately not be able to honor its obligation to indemnify the company from the “significant” talc-related litigation in the United States and Canada.
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May 31, 2023
Asbestos Securities Class Certification Briefing Refiled After Stay Lifted
TRENTON, N.J. — Plaintiffs in a case claiming that Johnson & Johnson violated securities law by withholding knowledge about the presence of asbestos in its talc tell a federal judge that they were refiling briefing involving class certification in the wake of a May 8 order lifting a stay and reopening the case.
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May 30, 2023
Police Military Surplus Helicopter Keeps Asbestos Case In Federal Court, Judge Says
ST. LOUIS — Police department helicopters purchased as military surplus are sufficiently related to federal conduct for removal of an asbestos case involving a former mechanic, a federal judge in Missouri said in denying a motion to remand.
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May 30, 2023
Judge Partially Grants Motion To Compel Further Asbestos Deposition
LOS ANGELES — Improper questions and objections complicated a deposition of an asbestos defendant’s person most qualified, a California judge said in partially granting a motion to compel answers but denying requests for a protective order and sanction.
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May 26, 2023
Lawyer: ‘Creative Solutions’ Warrant Sealing Accidently Revealed Asbestos Info
LOS ANGELES — Parties to litigation are freely able to discuss facts outside of court and make the judge aware only after it becomes relevant, and courts are empowered to rely on creative solutions such as sealing evidence where necessary, an asbestos attorney tells a California appeals court in arguing that there was no need for him to make public accidently disclosed evidence in a now-settled employment lawsuit.
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May 25, 2023
Judge Sets Hearing On Motion To Strike Asbestos Expert
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana set a June 9 hearing on a railway’s motion to strike an expert report stemming from a Libby, Mont., asbestos case. But in a response filed May 2, the plaintiff says that while seemingly boilerplate, the report is the result of expert Barry Castleman’s nearly four decades of experience with asbestos and the railroad industry.
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May 24, 2023
Magistrate Judge Imposes $1M Sanction For Asbestos Fee Case Conduct
BALTIMORE — Defendants’ knowing failure to produce evidence and comply with court orders and a “lame attempt” to have a state court enjoin a federal court, all of which extended litigation over asbestos referral fees and wasted the court’s time, warrants more than $1 million as a sanction, a federal magistrate judge in Maryland said.