Mealey's Asbestos
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September 06, 2024
Evidence, Experts Combine To Keep Rhode Island Secondhand Asbestos Case Alive
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A secondhand asbestos suit may proceed based on expert testimony paired with an internal Ford Motor Co. document acknowledging the presence of asbestos and its dangers while a family member’s recollection of using a second defendant’s products keeps it in the suit as well, a judge in Rhode Island said in denying defendants’ summary judgment motions.
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September 06, 2024
Asbestos Case Briefing Focuses On $200M In Punitive Damages
PORTLAND, Ore. — Two Johnson & Johnson entities rebutted claims that they knowingly sold asbestos-tainted talc for decades, telling an Oregon judge that in addition to its “unprecedented and excessive” size, the $200 million punitive damage award improperly punishes them for three sales of talc during the relevant period.
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September 06, 2024
Settlement From 1993 Bars Recent Mesothelioma Case, New York Justice Finds
NEW YORK — A 1993 settlement of asbestos-related claims against a power company clearly and unambiguously contemplated mesothelioma as a one of the future potential diseases covered by the agreement and bars a family’s action, a New York justice affirmed in denying a motion to reargue.
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September 06, 2024
Eyeing Appeal Of $8.8M Asbestos Verdict, Company Defends Appellate Bond
LOS ANGELES — While an appellate bond might not name all the plaintiffs, the size of the bond ensures that all of the plaintiffs’ interests are protected, a company found partly liable for a nearly $9 million in asbestos verdict tells a California court in opposing a motion objecting to the bond amount.
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September 05, 2024
Judge Largely Allows Asbestos Expert’s Cumulative Exposure Opinions
TAMPA, Fla. — To the extent an asbestos expert’s opinion that cumulative exposures increased the risk of a man’s lung cancer includes consideration of whether the exposures exceeded a de minimis amount, the opinion is reliable and admissible, a federal judge in Florida said in partly denying two motions to exclude.
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September 04, 2024
Judge: Boiler Maker Must Respond To Todd Shipyard Ship-Specific Asbestos Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO — A boiler company must respond to a request for production of any evidence related to six ships that underwent repairs at the Todd Shipyard in the early 1960s, a federal judge in California said in rejecting the company’s argument that complying would require “scouring its records.”
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September 03, 2024
California Court Orders New Asbestos Trial After ‘Fatally Inconsistent’ Verdict
LOS ANGELES — A jury verdict finding an asbestos stucco company liable for design defect under two separate theories but not apportioning it any liability for a man’s mesothelioma is a “fatally inconsistent” result that requires a new trial on the strict product liability design defect theory and liability, a California appeals court said in an unpublished Aug. 30 opinion, otherwise affirming the verdict.
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September 03, 2024
J&J Entities: Talc Plaintiffs’ Medical Monitoring Class Too Variable For Success
TRENTON, N.J. — Variability in how states handle medical monitoring claims makes them improper for class action treatment in a case brought by women allegedly harmed by the use of consumer talcum powder, and the flaw exposes the litigation’s true purpose: increasing the amount of claims in any potential bankruptcy, Johnson & Johnson and related entities tell a federal judge in New Jersey.
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September 03, 2024
Punitive, Other Claims Involving Putty, Asbestos-Talc Proceed, Justice Says
NEW YORK — A battle between experts over whether talc contained cleavage fragments or asbestos keeps an asbestos-talc case alive, and the fact that a juror could conclude that the talc supplier knew that its product would appear in a putty leaves the door open for punitive damages, a New York justice said.
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September 03, 2024
Vanderbilt, Talc Plaintiff Awarded $15M Wrap Briefing On Punitives
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Talc supplier Vanderbilt Minerals Inc. told a Connecticut judge that it would be unfair to award punitive damages for its conduct occuring after a man’s exposure to a predecessor’s product but that if the court did make such an award, the $15 million compensatory damages award adequately compensated the plaintiffs and weighs against substantial additional damages. But in reply, the plaintiff said the company was only rehashing previously rejected arguments.
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August 30, 2024
1 Of 3 Talc Entities Stuck In Connecticut Asbestos Suit, Judge Says
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A woman who claims that she was exposed to asbestos in consumer talc products establishes that one of three companies targeted the state and is subject to Connecticut’s long-arm statute by availing itself of the state’s markets but not the other two, a judge in the state said.
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August 27, 2024
Only Direct Claim Survives Dismissal Bids In Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment
NEW YORK — Saying that amending those claims would be futile, a New York federal judge granted dismissal of bad faith, negligence and tortious interference claims against an insurer and a third-party claims administrator in a suit over a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment.
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August 27, 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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August 26, 2024
Honeywell Prevails In California Motion Seeking Genetic Testing
OAKLAND, Calif. — A man who suffered from two past cancers and whose brother also contracted mesothelioma must sit for a saliva or blood draw to determine whether he suffers from BAP1 cancer predisposition syndrome (BCPS), a California judge said in a tentative ruling granting a defense motion.
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August 26, 2024
South Carolina Top Court Affirms Increased Damages After Asbestos Verdict
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A trial court properly increased an asbestos award after finding it inadequate but not so grossly inadequate as to require a new trial and then properly offset that award by pretrial settlements allocated according to the plaintiffs’ wishes, a divided South Carolina Supreme Court said in affirming a verdict.
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August 26, 2024
Untimely Expert Report Ultimately Sinks FELA Asbestos Case, N.J. Court Says
TRENTON, N.J. — A woman’s submission of an expert report nearly three months after the close of discovery was untimely and properly excluded, and without it she cannot meet the causation standard under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), a New Jersey appellate court said in an unpublished opinion affirming summary judgment in an asbestos case.
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August 26, 2024
Insured Settles With 2 Insurers Following 3rd Circuit’s Asbestos Ruling
PHILADELPHIA — Following a settlement between an insured and two of its insurers in an asbestos coverage suit, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals entered an order on Aug. 23 noting that after the Third Circuit’s mandate issues, the suit will continue on remand between the insured and the two remaining insurers consistent with the Third Circuit’s late-notice ruling.
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August 26, 2024
Settlement Reached In Asbestos Coverage Dispute Between Insurer, Insured
ROME, Ga. — An insurer and an insured notified a Georgia federal judge that they reached a contingent settlement in a suit seeking a declaration that coverage is owed for an underlying asbestos bodily injury suit arising out of the insured’s talc products.
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August 22, 2024
Judge Grants Dismissal Motions In Asbestos Suit Involving Guaranty Association
NEW ORLEANS — Having been advised that the parties engaged in settlement, a Louisiana federal judge granted six dismissal motions filed by the plaintiff jointly with separate defendants in an asbestos liability suit against a shipyard, related defendants, insurers and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) over a man’s exposure to asbestos resulting from his work at a shipyard.
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August 21, 2024
Judge: Claims Fail, But Contract Specification Doctrine Can’t Void Amendment
ST. LOUIS — Conclusory allegations seemingly copied from another suit do not rise to the level required to save an asbestos talc action from dismissal, but those allegations do not give rise to a contract specification defense sufficient to deny leave to amend, a federal judge in Missouri said while also denying a motion to stay the case pending resolution of allegations in a New York case.
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August 21, 2024
Asbestos Plaintiffs Claim BNSF, Insurer Use ‘Float’ To Profit Off Asbestos Claims
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — BNSF Railway Co. and its insurer Zurich American Insurance Co., which were recently held liable for $8 million in asbestos-related damages by a jury, commodify asbestos claims and trade on “human suffering” by delaying payment and refusing to settle in an effort to profit off the “float” between the time when they receive claims and when they make payments, plaintiffs allege in a complaint in Montana federal court.
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August 20, 2024
Asbestos Defendants’ Letter Advises Court Of Disclosure Of Genetic Testing
TRENTON, N.J. — A year after telling the court that no genetic testing occurred on a woman suffering from mesothelioma, plaintiffs for the first time disclosed that the woman underwent genetic testing more than a year prior, automobile defendants tell a judge in New Jersey in an Aug. 19 letter.
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August 20, 2024
4th Circuit Stays Expert Subpoena Case Pending Asbestos Case’s Dismissal
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 19 stayed a case involving a subpoena seeking information from asbestos expert Theresa Emory’s employer pending a decision from another court on whether to grant with prejudice a plaintiff’s motion to voluntarily dismiss his action relying on the expert’s study case.
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August 20, 2024
Court Agrees To Hear Case Over Upended J&J Verdict In Georgia Asbestos-Talc Case
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to weigh in on a case after a trial judge upset a defense verdict for Johnson & Johnson entities and granted a plaintiff a new trial in her action claiming exposure to asbestos in consumer talc caused her mother’s fatal ovarian cancer.
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August 19, 2024
Federal Judge Questions Motive, Denies Voluntary Dismissal Of Asbestos-Talc Case
TRENTON, N.J. — A motion to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice filed in a suit pending for six years and after extensions to certain discovery obligations calls into question whether the plaintiffs truly want to abandon the case or simply hope to refile their action, a federal judge in New Jersey said Aug. 16 in an unpublished opinion denying the motion.