Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

March 26, 2025
Chapter 11 Debtor Barretts Minerals Says Bankruptcy Case ‘Legitimate’

HOUSTON — A motion by a committee of asbestos personal injury claimants to dismiss the Chapter 11 cases of talc mining company Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) and an affiliate should be denied because “there can be no legitimate dispute that the Chapter 11 Cases were filed with, and continue to serve, a legitimate bankruptcy purpose,” the debtors argue in an objection filed in Texas federal bankruptcy court.
March 27, 2025
New York Justice: Asbestos Study Subpoena Challenge Wasn’t Contempt

NEW YORK — An asbestos expert’s and hospital’s delay in producing the identities of asbestos-talc study participants while they challenged a ruling requiring compliance with the subpoena constitutes zealous advocacy rather than clear disobedience, a New York justice said in declining to find contempt on the grounds that doing so would “chill such advocacy” and that attorney fees weren’t appropriate.
March 24, 2025
Subcontractor’s Chapter 11 Exclusive Periods Extended Over Objections Of Insurers

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal bankruptcy judge has given defunct ship subcontractor and Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. more time to file its bankruptcy plan despite objections by two of the company’s insurers, which say Hopeman’s new proposal to ditch its plan of liquidation in favor of a reorganization plan with an asbestos trust is unworkable and would be a waste of the estate’s limited funds.
March 21, 2025
Florida Jury Awards $18M In Asbestos Case Against Brake Grinding Manufacturer

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida jury awarded $18 million to a woman suffering from malignant epithelioid mesothelioma, finding that brake grinding machine manufacturer Hennessy Industries Inc.’s negligence caused her take-home exposures and apportioning it 15% of the liability. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
March 21, 2025
Federal Judge Dismisses RICO Case Against Asbestos Plaintiffs’ Firm

CHICAGO — Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims brought against an asbestos plaintiffs’ law firm never adequately identify the enterprise in question or how the entities operated, a federal judge in Illinois said in dismissing the federal claims and declining to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims.
March 20, 2025
New York Court Affirms Causation, Punitive Damages In Asbestos Boiler Case

NEW YORK — Testimony from an industrial hygienist and thoracic surgeon satisfied the specific causation standard in New York, and there was no error in not precluding a boiler company from cross-examining the surgeon about exposures for which it had not established liability, a New York appellate court said while finding punitive damages appropriate and the damages not beyond what a reasonable person would expect.
March 20, 2025
Discovery Violations Lead To Default, $16.2M Verdict In Washington Asbestos Case

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington judge hit Canadian mining outfit Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) with a $16.2 million verdict after entering default judgment against the company for failure to comply with discovery rulings.
March 19, 2025
Canadian Asbestos Miner Seeks Judge’s Removal After $1,000 Discovery Sanction

LOS ANGELES — Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) filed a brief in a California court arguing that its peremptory challenge to the judge overseeing an asbestos case was timely after informing the court that it could not receive a fair hearing from the judge, who previously found that it “willfully and intentionally” failed to comply with court-ordered discovery.
March 18, 2025
BNSF: Common Carrier, Federal Law Preclude Liability, $8M Asbestos Verdict

SAN FRANCISCO — Railways carrying material under federal law are common carriers and can’t be held strictly liable, and federal law preempts state laws attempting to do so, BNSF Railway Co. tells a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a March 17 brief, hoping to erase an $8 million asbestos verdict stemming from its handling of asbestos-tainted vermiculite at the Libby, Mont., mine.
March 18, 2025
Bankrupt Company Says Asbestos Suit Against Receiver Belongs In State Court

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bankrupt company tells a federal judge in South Carolina that a February ruling supports limiting precedent on federal jurisdiction to bankruptcy cases and instances where a removing entity was an actual party to the case, while urging the court to reject insurers’ attempts to remove an asbestos action against a receiver for Canadian-based Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL).
March 17, 2025
Avon Affiliates Seek Approval Of Disclosures For Chapter 11 Liquidation Plan

WILMINGTON, Del. — The U.S. divisions of cosmetics giant Avon seek approval from a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge of the disclosure statement for their Chapter 11 liquidation plan, saying they are optimistic that negotiations with asbestos talc claimants will produce an agreement on how money for allowed talc claims will be distributed from a bankruptcy trust under the plan.
March 18, 2025
Panel Says Underlying Asbestos Suits Are Covered Under Premises-Operations Policies

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Second District Texas Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s ruling that an insurer has a continued duty to defend its insured against underlying asbestos bodily injury lawsuits because the trial court properly found that the underlying allegations fall within the policies’ premises-operations coverage and the insurer failed to show that its policies have been exhausted.
March 17, 2025
Asbestos Company Can’t Get Costs, Access To Expert In Voluntarily Dismissed Case

NEW YORK — A mesothelioma sufferer cannot be required to continue litigating a five-year-old asbestos case against the lone remaining defendant in his case so that the company can depose an expert and avoid litigation costs in other cases against it, a federal judge in New York said in adopting a magistrate judge’s ruling and granting the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.
March 11, 2025
Montana Senate Considers Relocating Asbestos Claims To New Court

HELENA, Mont. — Legislation in the Montana Senate seeking creation of a three-judge government claims court that would have jurisdiction over constitutional and asbestos-related claims was passed on a second read after moving out of the Judiciary Committee.
March 10, 2025
Talc Law Firm’s Action Belongs With First-Filed Case, Federal Judge Says

JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge in Mississippi said the advantages inherent in avoiding overlapping discovery and different rulings in different courts warranted transferring one law firm’s suit targeting a second law firm over asbestos-talc negotiations with Johnson & Johnson.
March 10, 2025
Company Defends Claim As Parties Set Discovery Rules In Asbestos Expert Dispute

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary opposed reconsideration of a ruling allowing a single claim to proceed against three experts it accuses in a lawsuit of disparagement and false advertising based on their article linking mesothelioma to exposure to talc, while the parties asked a federal judge in Virginia to permit bifurcated discovery, with the first phase involving fact questions and the second involving damages, which the subsidiary also opposed.
March 05, 2025
J&J Subsidiary, Experts Move For Bifurcated Discovery In Asbestos Study Suit

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary and three experts it accuses of disparagement and false advertising based on an article they published linking mesothelioma to exposure to talc asked a federal judge in Virginia to bifurcate discovery, with the first phase involving fact questions and the second involving damages.
March 05, 2025
Talc Claimants, J&J Debtor Debate Propriety Of Bankruptcy Venue Ruling

HOUSTON — An appeal by certain asbestos talc claimants’ counsel of a Texas federal bankruptcy judge’s denial of their motion to transfer venue for the Chapter 11 case of the latest Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff, Red River Talc LLC, should be dismissed because the counsel have not satisfied any of the grounds for leave to appeal, the debtor says in a reply brief in support of its motion to dismiss the appeal.
March 04, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

By Scott M. Seaman
March 04, 2025
Jury Returns Verdict For American Honda In Asbestos Brakes Case

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A Los Angeles jury found that an automaker’s brake products failed to perform as an ordinary customer would expect and that it failed to adequately warn about the dangers but that the conduct was not a substantial factor in a man’s development of mesothelioma.
February 25, 2025
Bankruptcy Judge Grants Talc Supplier Presperse Extensions Of Exclusive Periods

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge gave raw materials supplier and Chapter 11 debtor Presperse Corp. six more months to have the exclusive right to file an amended plan of reorganization after the company’s lone insurer objected to the plan’s disclosure statement and disputed insurance coverage for asbestos personal injury claims.
February 25, 2025
Asbestos Expert’s Opinion Among Issues In Appeal Of $43M Plus Verdict

LOS ANGELES — Parties and amicus curiae recently wrapped briefing in a California appeal turning on expert testimony, including expert William Longo’s identification of asbestos in talc products and whether the causation evidence supported a verdict of more than $32.8 million in total compensatory damages and another $10.3 million in punitive damages.
February 24, 2025
2nd Circuit Grants Revlon Talc Claimants’ Request For Direct Appeal

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate and order granting asbestos talc claimants’ petition for a direct appeal of a New York federal bankruptcy judge’s decision barring the claimants from pursuing claims against former debtor Revlon Inc. under the discharge and injunction provisions of its confirmed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
February 21, 2025
Magistrate Restricts Access In Asbestos Coverage Dispute Involving Insolvent Insurer

OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal magistrate judge granted a motion filed by National Indemnity Co. (NICO) to restrict access to documents containing expert reports in its suit seeking to enforce obligations by defendants it calls reinsurers — one of which is now insolvent — for liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure.
February 21, 2025
Ohio Enacts Bill Targeting Over-Naming In Asbestos Suits

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Individuals wishing to pursue asbestos tort claims in Ohio will have 60 days from the filing of a suit to provide a sworn statement detailing the grounds for each claim and defendant under legislation recently enacted in the state.