Mealey's Asbestos
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January 31, 2024
Sanctions Sought In Asbestos Appeal Over Sanctions In Referral Case
RICHMOND, Va. — An appeal before the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over the appropriateness of sanctions in a case involving asbestos bankruptcy trust referral fees spawned its own briefing on sanctions, with the appellee calling the appeal frivolous and the appellant saying meritorious issues of first impression exist over whether a federal judge can sanction a party for conduct in a state court.
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January 31, 2024
California Judge Denies Genetic Testing Motion With Trial Approaching
LOS ANGELES — A defendant seeking a medical examination and genetic testing from a plaintiff suffering from mesothelioma does not explain how such testing can be performed or how expert reports can be produced in the short period remaining prior to trial, a California judge said in denying the defendant’s motion among other rulings.
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January 31, 2024
Judge: Offer Of Samples For Testing Largely Moots Protective Order Motion
SEATTLE — Plaintiffs’ ongoing offer to produce talc samples tested by asbestos expert William Longo moots the need for a protective order unless additional samples are found, a judge in Washington state said in denying a motion for protective order and spoliation finding in part.
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January 31, 2024
Talc Packaging Company Wants 2nd Look At Jurisdiction Ruling
SEATTLE — Simply packaging talc in Missouri for a third party does not provide jurisdiction in Washington courts, an asbestos-talc defendant seeking reconsideration and appeal of a ruling denying its motion to dismiss argues. But in opposition, the plaintiffs say the contracts clearly indicate that the products would be distributed nationwide and the fact that the defendant didn’t own the trademark doesn’t preclude liability.
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January 30, 2024
CARD Doctor Says Asbestos Subpoena Likely Seeks ‘Highly Improper’ Testimony
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The former medical director of a Libby, Mont., clinic told a federal judge in a motion to quash a subpoena that because he never saw a woman when she went to the clinic and her diagnosis at the time differs from the mesothelioma from which she now suffers, any testimony he could offer at trial would be duplicative of evidence a railway already has.
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January 26, 2024
Automaker Can’t Escape Possible Liability, Must Face Asbestos Suit, N.Y. Court Says
NEW YORK — A trial court judge properly denied an automaker summary judgment after it spent years litigating the case, only to later argue that it wasn’t the proper party, failed to respond to interrogatories and couldn’t eliminate the possibility that it was the liable party, a New York appellate court said Jan. 25.
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January 23, 2024
Dismissal Stipulated In Asbestos Coverage Dispute Involving Guaranty Association
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Remaining defendant insurers stipulated to dismissal in a South Carolina federal court of cross-claims by or against two defendant insurers that were previously dismissed from a receiver’s asbestos coverage suit against insurers and the South Carolina Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association.
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January 23, 2024
Imputing Contacts, Judge Finds Personal Jurisdiction In Reinsurance Row
OMAHA, Neb. — Imputation is appropriate at this stage and, therefore, so is personal jurisdiction over a defendant that describes itself as “an events and hospitality company,” a Nebraska federal judge said in a Jan. 22 ruling denying dismissal of a suit involving a reinsurance contract and a settlement with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures.
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January 23, 2024
Magistrate Judge Won’t Sanction Talc Defendant Over ‘Litigation Tactics’
NEW YORK — A dispute over an asbestos-talc defendant’s attempts to discover the identities of individuals in expert Jacqueline Moline’s study comes down to disagreement about litigation tactics and does not rise to the level required for sanctions, a magistrate judge in New York said Jan. 22 in denying a motion.
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January 23, 2024
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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January 22, 2024
Florida Appeals Court Leaves Asbestos Product ID Ruling Undisturbed
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appellate court denied an asbestos friction product defendant’s motion for rehearing and certification of a conflict, with one of the judges saying in a concurrence that the criminal rule on which the appellee relied had been rejected and was not applicable to an opinion on the standard for product identification.
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January 18, 2024
Man Says Asbestos-Talc Case Doesn’t Require Inquiry Into His Company
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — No grounds exist for subpoenaing a man’s business records in a case alleging exposure to asbestos in talc where there is no allegation or evidence of workplace exposures and where other courts previously rejected a similar request by another defendant, the man tells a Connecticut judge in a reply seeking a protective order and quashing of the subpoena.
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January 18, 2024
Montana Asbestos Plaintiffs: Railroad’s Late Subpoena Of CARD Doctor Is Personal
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Post-discovery attempts at deposing the retired medical director of a facility where a plaintiff last sought care five years ago and which has no connection to current mesothelioma diagnoses or treatments appear to be personal rather than legitimate efforts at producing evidence, two plaintiffs tell a federal judge in Montana in a Jan. 17 motion to quash a railroad’s subpoena.
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January 18, 2024
Oven Company Appeals Rulings On Asbestos Experts, Summary Judgment
NEW YORK — A pizza oven asbestos defendant filed a pair of notices on Jan. 17 appealing a New York justice’s rulings allowing three causation experts’ testimony and denying the company summary judgment, according to the court’s docket.
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January 18, 2024
Justice: Jurisdiction Lacking Over Holding Company In New York Asbestos-Talc Case
NEW YORK — A holding company with its place of business outside the state does not belong in a New York state asbestos case, and contracts and meeting notes without reference to the company do not establish the need for jurisdictional discovery, a New York justice said in granting a motion to dismiss.
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January 18, 2024
Asbestos Plaintiffs May Pierce Corporate Veil Of Dravo Entities, Court Says
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Because questions remain about the propriety of a merger-dissolution process and whether the two resulting companies operated as a single entity, state court asbestos plaintiffs may pierce a company’s corporate veil, a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel said in reversing summary judgment for the defendant.
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January 17, 2024
Connecticut Top Court Won’t Review Certain Injury Asbestos Workers’ Comp Case
HARTFORD, Conn. — The Connecticut Supreme Court on Jan. 16 denied a petition for review in a case allowing a worker’s asbestos tort claims, turning away the argument that expanding the substantial-certainty doctrine in workers’ compensation cases to allow asbestos exposure cases could flood the state’s courts with tort actions currently handled through the dedicated asbestos workers’ compensation docket.
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January 16, 2024
J&J, Asbestos-Talc Fraud Plaintiffs Reach Settlement In Principle
TRENTON, N.J. — A class action claiming that Johnson & Johnson defrauded tort litigants by withholding information about the presence of asbestos in talc appears to have resolved after a federal judge in New Jersey on Jan. 12 entered a text order on the docket administratively terminating pending motions to dismiss or strike the class clams after being told that the parties reached a settlement in principle.
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January 16, 2024
Widow Urges Expedited Review, Warns Ruling Could Eliminate Asbestos Damages
BOSTON — When a judge postponed an asbestos trial he warned the parties that he would not grant future motions, necessitating expedited review of an issue that could be used to “minimize liability to a practical nullity in all asbestos cases involving the widows of Navy veterans,” a widow tells the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a motion to expedite her appeal.
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January 12, 2024
Punitive Damages Claim Survives Summary Judgment In California Asbestos Case
LOS ANGELES — A punitive damage claim in an asbestos-exposure case against Hajoca Corp. will proceed to trial after a judge in California denied summary judgment after crediting allegations that the defendant took no steps to ensure the safety of its products despite lawsuits reaching back to the 1970s that put it on notice about potential hazards.
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January 11, 2024
California Judge Won’t Tax Some Asbestos Costs, Lets Juror Prejudice Ruling Stand
LOS ANGELES — A California judge said he already largely discounted a juror’s declaration before finding that there was no prejudice from comments made during deliberation in an asbestos case and that he would deny reconsideration, while in a second ruling said a prevailing party is entitled to expert fees are available even when an expert doesn’t testify.
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January 09, 2024
Illinois Jury Awards $30M In Household Asbestos Exposure Case
CHICAGO — An Illinois jury awarded $30 million to a widow whose husband experienced exposure to talc used at a tire manufacturing facility and who died of mesothelioma five weeks after his diagnosis, sources told Mealey Publications.
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January 09, 2024
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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January 09, 2024
Illinois Court Reverses Live Witness Testimony Requirement After Asbestos Verdict
CHICAGO — A trial court improperly required in-person testimony from a witness whose testimony regarding work conditions at a facility appears crucial to the case when a remote appearance could just as easily have been accommodated, an Illinois appeals court said in partly reversing and granting a new trial.
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January 08, 2024
Supreme Court Won’t Review Shipbuilder’s ‘Twilight Zone’ Asbestos Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 8 turned away a case involving Louisiana state tort asbestos claims brought within the “twilight zone” line of cases governing maritime actions that a shipbuilder amicus curiae party warned could have “sweeping consequences” if not addressed.