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Mealey's Asbestos

December 08, 2023
Kaiser Gypsum Asbestos Insurer Seeks Supreme Court Reversal Of Ruling On Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. does not have standing to challenge the debtors’ reorganization plan because the plan is insurance neutral is wrong and should be reversed, the insurer tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Dec. 7 brief on the merits.
December 07, 2023
J&J: Former Attorney Improperly Working With Talc MDL Lawyer, Firm

TRENTON, N.J. — One of the attorneys responsible for crafting talc-related liability strategies for defendant companies flipped and formed an alliance with counsel for plaintiffs, Johnson & Johnson and spinoff LTL Management LLC say in a motion filed in federal multidistrict litigation in New Jersey seeking disqualification of a plaintiffs’ attorney and his firm or their removal from the steering committee.
December 07, 2023
Insurer Says It Will Appeal Missouri Workers’ Comp Exclusivity Case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a Missouri appeals court declined to grant a motion to transfer an asbestos case involving a workers’ compensation claim to the state’s top court, an insurer notified the appeals court on Dec. 6 that it would file an application seeking similar relief directly with the Missouri Supreme Court.
December 06, 2023
Judge Orders Briefs On Return Of Talc Bottles, Asbestos Plaintiff’s Use

NEW YORK — Parties must brief why a state court ruling in a separate case ordering the return of two bottles of talc produced in discovery does not violate the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, and plaintiff Brian Gref should explain what he intends to do with the bottles after receiving them and why the court should not consider the evidence spoliated if the bottles are used as evidence in the separate case, a federal magistrate judge in New York said Dec. 5.
December 06, 2023
John Crane Reiterates Maritime Asbestos Widow Can’t Seek Her Own Damages

BOSTON — A Navy widow’s survival action does not permit recovery of her own damages, and the court already concluded that maritime law does not permit a wrongful death action seeking nonpecuniary damages for loss of society and consortium, an asbestos defendant tells a federal judge in Massachusetts in a motion to dismiss.
December 06, 2023
9th Circuit Rejects Jury Instruction, Prejudice Challenges To Asbestos Verdict

SAN DIEGO — A trial court did not err in instructing a jury on the consumer expectation test, any problem with statements made by the defendant during the trial were remedied by the court’s corrective statements and a man never addressed the reasons a court excluded deposition testimony taken from the defendant’s corporate representative in previous asbestos cases, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming a defense verdict.
December 04, 2023
Judge Says Settlements Apply To Plaintiff’s Costs, Wipe Out Ford Asbestos Verdict

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Offsets for settlement recoveries apply to costs and leave an asbestos plaintiff originally awarded $275,000 from Ford Motor Co. with nothing, a federal judge in North Carolina said.
December 04, 2023
Louisiana Court Revives Children’s Subpoena Into Widow’s Asbestos Settlements

NEW ORLEANS — A district court judge erred in granting a widow’s motion to quash a subpoena, a divided Louisiana appellate court said, concluding that the lower court failed to consider whether surviving children’s subpoena seeking information about a widow’s settlements in an asbestos case could lead to discoverable information.
December 04, 2023
Delaware High Court Leaves Merck-Bayer Asbestos-Talc Liability Ruling Undisturbed

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court said it would affirm a ruling that an asset purchase agreement left Merck & Co. Inc. and not Bayer AG liable for asbestos-talc liabilities arising from products sold before the closing of the $14 billion sale, saying in a one-page order that it would do so based on the reasoning of the Court of Chancery.
December 04, 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.
November 30, 2023
California Judge Orders Limited Asbestos-Talc Plaintiff Testimony On Genetics

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge said an asbestos-talc plaintiff must answer three questions posed to her at her deposition about genetic testing about which she refused to answer but that the defendants were not entitled to discovery of any and all information about genetic mutations from which the woman suffers.
November 30, 2023
Montana Asbestos Screener Says No Evidence It Intended To Defraud ACA Program

MISSOULA, Mont. — Claims submitted under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) program for Libby, Mont., asbestos-disease sufferers complied with federal law and guidance and the jury was able to conclude otherwise only because the judge ignored the statutory language, imposed a heightened standard and rejected evidence indicating that the medical company believed its claims to be legitimate, the provider tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Nov. 29 opening brief.
November 29, 2023
Post-Trial Asbestos Motions After $107M Award Focus On Jurors, Damages

LOS ANGELES — A plaintiff awarded in excess of $107 million in an asbestos case defended causation testimony, the conduct of jurors and counsel and the size of the award from the three defendants’ motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) in a handful of post-trial motions filed in a California superior court.
November 29, 2023
Shipbuilders Warn Of ‘Sweeping Consequences’ To Maritime Asbestos Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appellate ruling allowing a state tort asbestos claim under the “twilight zone” line of cases governing maritime cases cannot be cabined to Louisiana and threatens “sweeping consequences” that are already being felt, a shipbuilding association told the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief.
November 29, 2023
Hawaii Asbestos Trial Ends In Verdict For 3M After Genetics Evidence Excluded

HONOLULU — 3M Co. negligently designed its respirator, rendering the device defective, but neither flaw caused a man’s mesothelioma and the man’s injury arose from superseding cause, a jury in Hawaii said in finding for the defendant.
November 29, 2023
J&J, Plaintiff Awarded $18.8M Settle In Wake Of Denial Of Post-Trial Motions

LOS ANGELES — After Johnson & Johnson (J&J) filed a notice indicating that it would appeal denial of post-trial motions rejecting its claim that it could not be liable for an $18.8 million asbestos-talc verdict, the plaintiff told a federal judge in California that the parties reached a settlement completely resolving the case.
November 29, 2023
FELA Asbestos Plaintiff Warns: Georgia Ruling Will Impact Every Daubert Case

ATLANTA — A man tells the Georgia Supreme Court that it must review a divided appellate court ruling excluding his Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) expert’s opinion that exposure to asbestos and other toxins caused lung cancer, saying the divided and “fractured” ruling shows the court rushed its opinion and warning that the confusion the ruling creates could result in it being cited by both parties in every trial court case applying Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
November 29, 2023
Judge Won’t Strike Expert Opinion Challenged As ‘Every Exposure’ Theory

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An expert’s testimony tracks with the science involving asbestos-related diseases and does not veer into “every exposure” or specific causation testimony, a federal judge said Nov. 28 in admitting three witnesses in a fourth ruling denying motions to strike various expert opinions in a case involving Libby, Mont., exposures.
November 28, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Reimbursement Row Over Reinsurance Contract

OMAHA, Neb. — Sparring with one defendant over claims pertaining to a reinsurance contract purportedly issued decades ago, an insurer on Nov. 27 urged a Nebraska federal court to deny a dismissal motion in its suit over reimbursement for a settlement with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures.
November 28, 2023
Employer Warns Against Categorizing Asbestos Injuries As Substantial Certainty

HARTFORD, Conn. — Expanding the substantial-certainty doctrine in workers’ compensation cases to long-term asbestos exposure cases threatens to flood courts with tort actions currently handled by the state’s dedicated asbestos workers’ compensation docket, an employer warned the Connecticut Supreme Court in a petition for certification.
November 22, 2023
New York Plaintiff: Defendant Conducts Clandestine Testing On Talc Bottles

NEW YORK — A defendant refuses to return bottles of talc produced in discovery, instead performing clandestine testing on the evidence without disclosure or permission, a man tells a New York justice in a motion to compel.
November 21, 2023
3rd Circuit Will Again Rule On Dismissal Of LTL Management Bankruptcy

TRENTON, N.J. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will decide if the second Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC should be dismissed like its first case for lack of financial distress, with the debtor asking the appeals court in a case summary to rule on whether a bankruptcy judge “misapplied the law and made clearly erroneous findings of fact” when dismissing the second case.
November 21, 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.
November 21, 2023
Garrett Motion Defends Disclosure Of Financial Struggles After Spinoff

NEW YORK — The financial difficulties a newly independent company faced after being left holding millions of dollars in asbestos liabilities was clearly communicated, and nothing required explicit revelation of the company’s exploration of bankruptcy as a possible remedy, Honeywell International Inc. spinoff Garrett Motion Inc. argues in an appellee brief to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
November 21, 2023
New York Justice Denies Reargument In Misfiled Affidavit Asbestos Case

NEW YORK — An affidavit misfiled as its own docket entry rather than associated with a motion does not warrant reargument, and nothing in it or allegedly new evidence about the true manufacturer of asbestos-containing products to which a man was exposed entitles a company to summary judgment, a New York justice said.