Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy
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February 23, 2024
Bankruptcy Judge Again Denies Dismissal Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor’s Case
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC issued a written decision for his denial of the two most recent motions by asbestos claimants to dismiss the case, saying most of the arguments were already decided in previous dismissal rulings and a challenge based on the debtor’s lack of financial distress fails.
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February 22, 2024
Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Granted More Time To File Chapter 11 Plan
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge has given defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) and affiliates more time to file a plan of reorganization in their Chapter 11 case, saying the extension “is in the best interests of the Debtors’ estates, their creditors, and other parties in interest.”
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February 21, 2024
Nash Chapter 7 Trustee Opposes Dismissal Of Fraudulent Transfer Action
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a Feb. 20 opposition to a motion to dismiss, the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. says that he has standing to pursue his claims in a fraudulent transfer adversary proceeding seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate and that the complaint contains enough facts to survive the dismissal bid.
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February 20, 2024
Parties In Appeal Over Asbestos Trust Expert’s Audit Finish Briefing
NEW ORLEANS — Parties involved in a dispute between a B-reader and a company that performed an audit that eventually led to his exclusion from an asbestos trust claim submission process briefed the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether litigation privilege precluded the suit and whether there was any link between the audit and his exclusion that would give the trial court jurisdiction.
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February 20, 2024
Reorganization Plan, Asbestos Trust Of Hess Unit HONX Confirmed
HOUSTON — The Chapter 11 plan of reorganization of Hess Corp. affiliate HONX Inc., which creates a trust with up to $187 million to resolve asbestos personal injury claims, was confirmed Feb. 16 in findings of fact and conclusions of law issued jointly by a federal judge and a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas after 99% of asbestos claimants voted to accept the plan.
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February 16, 2024
Talc Testing Claims Not Stayed By Barretts Minerals’ Bankruptcy, Judge Rules
HOUSTON — Claims against two affiliates of Chapter 11 debtor Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) involving the testing of talc for asbestos remain viable in the tort system while all other claims are stayed by the bankruptcy case, according to a joint stipulation and an order filed in an adversary action in a Texas federal bankruptcy court.
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February 16, 2024
Turbine Seller, Installer Can’t Be Strictly Liable In Maryland Asbestos Case
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A company that “wore two hats” in both selling and then subcontracting the installation of an asbestos-containing turbine at a power station cannot be held strictly liable because the turbine never truly left its possession or control, a Maryland court said in affirming summary judgment.
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February 15, 2024
Barretts Minerals Seeks More Time To File Reorganization Plan
HOUSTON — With mediation on a plan of reorganization and “robust marketing” of assets ongoing, Chapter 11 debtor talc mining company Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) seeks 90 more days to file a plan and solicit votes on it from asbestos personal injury claimants in Texas federal bankruptcy court.
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February 14, 2024
Claims Against LIGA Tossed In Asbestos Coverage Suit Involving Insolvent Insurer
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge granted summary judgment to the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) and dismissed an asbestos liability suit against it, finding that the claims for asbestos-related lung cancer against LIGA, as the statutory obligor for a now-insolvent insurer, are not covered claims.
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February 13, 2024
Hospital Says Burden, Third-Party Status Warranted Quashing Asbestos Subpoena
RICHMOND, Va. — Third-party subpoenas fall under a higher standard that an asbestos defendant cannot meet given the evidence’s marginal relationship to the case, a hospital told the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 12, also arguing that the burden that disclosing anonymous study participants would impose supports a trial court’s decision to quash the subpoena.
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February 08, 2024
Dismissal Granted In Asbestos Liability Case Involving Guaranty Association
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on Feb. 7 granted a motion for voluntary dismissal of a man’s claim that he was exposed to asbestos through contact with a specific worker at a shipyard but keeping other claims regarding exposure against the shipyard, related parties, multiple insurers and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA).
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February 07, 2024
4th Circuit Defers Ruling On Sanctions In Asbestos Case Referral Appeal
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will defer any ruling on a separate motion for sanctions pending review of the merits of an appeal involving whether a trial court properly imposed sanctions for conduct in an asbestos bankruptcy trust referral fee dispute.
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February 07, 2024
5th Circuit Grants Summary Reversal Of Longshore Asbestos Case
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a joint motion for summary reversal in a Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) preemption “twilight zone” asbestos case.
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February 05, 2024
Rail Company Defends Need For Testimony Of Former Libby, Mont., Clinic Director
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A railway tells a federal judge in Montana in opposition to a motion to quash the railway’s subpoena that trial preservation testimony is the best way to secure potentially admissible evidence from an asbestos clinic’s former medical director and that his status as a former employee doesn’t matter since he can testify about how a clinic patient described her exposures to asbestos.
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February 02, 2024
1st Circuit Agrees To Decide, Expedites Widow’s Asbestos Damages Case
BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion to dismiss an appeal over the types of damages available in an asbestos maritime case and, in addressing a motion to expedite, gave the appellee 30 days to file a response to a widow’s pre-filed opening brief.
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February 02, 2024
Talc Debtors Imerys, Cyprus Mines Propose Joint Trust To Resolve Asbestos Claims
WILMINGTON, Del. — The reorganizations of Chapter 11 debtors Imerys Talc America Inc. and Cyprus Mines Corp. will result in a joint trust containing more than $850 million to pay asbestos personal injury claims, according to separate reorganization plans and disclosure statements the debtors filed in Delaware federal bankruptcy court.
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February 01, 2024
W.R. Grace Insurer, Former Employees Resolve Dispute Over Asbestos Payments
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A W.R. Grace & Co. insurer and former workers resolved two cases accusing the insurer of profiting from the “float” created when it delays asbestos-related payments for which it was liable.
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February 01, 2024
Paint Manufacturer Halts Operations, Citing Years Of Asbestos Litigation
IRVING, Texas — A paint manufacturing company closed its 157 retail stores, furloughed all 700 employees and announced that it is ceasing operations, due in part to its historical litigation for thousands of asbestos personal injury claims.
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February 01, 2024
J&J Entities Want ‘Unhelpful’ Asbestos-Talc Complaint Allegations Stricken
SEATTLE — A Washington state complaint running nearly 100 pages is “replete with unnecessary and inappropriate accusations” immaterial to the asbestos-talc claims at issue in the action and prevents an accurate and fair response, two Johnson & Johnson entities argue in a motion seeking to strike the complaint in part.
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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 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 29, 2024
Kaiser Debtors, Claimant Reps Agree Asbestos Insurer Not A Party In Interest
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should affirm the finding by three courts that the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. does not have standing to object to the debtors’ reorganization plan because none of the insurer’s prepetition interests is affected by the plan, the debtors and asbestos claimants’ representatives tell the high court in respondent briefs on the merits.
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January 24, 2024
Amici Senators Say Supreme Court Review Needed For ‘Texas 2-Step’ Bankruptcies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Georgia-Pacific’s use of the “Texas Two-Step” to place all asbestos liabilities with spinoff Bestwall LLC and shield itself and other affiliates from asbestos claims by bankrupting the spinoff unit “radically expands the authority of bankruptcy courts and makes a mockery of congressional intent,” three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tell the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief in support of high court review.
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January 24, 2024
Chapter 7 Trustee Amends Fraudulent Transfer Action Against Debtor’s Parent
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. filed an amended complaint in a fraudulent transfer adversary proceeding seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate after the defendants moved to dismiss the action.
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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.