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

Mealey's Asbestos

July 19, 2024
Judge Delays Case Against Asbestos Trust Citing Pending Motion To Stay

MISSOULA, Mont. — The federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against the WRG Asbestos PI Trust said July 18 that in light of the trust’s pending motion to stay the case until resolution of a declaratory judgment action filed with the bankruptcy court, he would continue an upcoming pretrial conference.
July 19, 2024
Questions Of Fact Remain In Asbestos Bodily Injury Coverage Suit, Judge Says

ROME, Ga. — A Georgia federal judge denied an insured’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a suit seeking a declaration that coverage is owed for an underlying asbestos bodily injury suit after determining that questions of fact exist regarding whether asbestos exclusions apply as a bar to coverage and whether the underlying plaintiff’s injuries were caused by asbestos in the insured’s talc products.
July 19, 2024
Talc MDL Special Master Denies Litigation Funding Discovery Request

TRENTON, N.J. — Questions surrounding litigation funding in the asbestos-talc federal multidistrict litigation don’t go to the claims or defenses before the court, and ordering discovery simply because plaintiffs refuse to settle would open the floodgates to such requests, a federal special master said, quashing subpoenas.
July 18, 2024
J&J, Bankrupt Talc Miners Resolve Indemnification Dispute With $500M Settlement

WILMINGTON, Del. — Various Johnson & Johnson entities will pay more than $500 million to two bankrupt talc-mining companies, resolving questions surrounding indemnification for asbestos and other talc-related liabilities and paving the way for resolution of the bankruptcy plans, according to a joint motion for approval.
July 16, 2024
Asbestos Verdicts & Settlements: January 2023 – December 2023

Every year, Mealey’s Litigation Report: Asbestos compiles, analyzes and reports on verdict information appearing in the report from the previous calendar year. The following report contains that information.
July 16, 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.
July 16, 2024
Judge Slashes Request For Expert, Other Costs, After Asbestos Verdict

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois slashed by more than 80% a post-trial request for costs associated with deposing asbestos expert witnesses and other expenses, saying that although John Crane Inc. was the prevailing party, it had not shown that the requested fees were recoverable or complied with applicable standards.
July 16, 2024
New Trial Efforts Fail After Government Contractor Verdict For John Crane

SAN FRANCISCO — A California judge denied a woman’s attempt to upend a defense verdict in an asbestos case, saying that after full consideration of the arguments, she would turn away claims that the jury should have been able to consider post-Navy private employment.
July 11, 2024
Punitive Damages, $15M Award Focus Of Briefing After Vanderbilt Asbestos Trial

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a trio of motions in a Connecticut state court seeking to topple or reduce an asbestos verdict, talc company R.T. Vanderbilt Holding Co. Inc. argues that trial errors likely led to a jury’s unsupported finding against it for a successor’s conduct and that the resulting $15 million asbestos-talc award and punitive damages finding exceeded the norm and were likely the result of passion and prejudice. The plaintiff tells the court in her post-trial brief that $30 million in punitive damages is appropriate because the company knew there was asbestos in its talc but failed to take steps to warn users, and there is no evidence that the award will financially cripple the company.
July 11, 2024
Dallas Jury Awards $500,000 For Man’s Mesothelioma

DALLAS — A Texas judge entered judgment on a $500,000 asbestos verdict, finding that the plaintiffs are entitled to costs and various interest on the $325,000 in exemplary damages awarded by the jury.
July 10, 2024
Cancer Group Ups Genital Talc Use Rating To ‘Probably Carcinogenic’

LYON, France — Consumer talc products are a probably carcinogenic when used on the genital area, scientists at a global cancer research agency announced in changing the level of risk it associated with the product.
July 09, 2024
Asbestos Lab Analyst’s Work With Longo Requires Deposition, Talc Company Says

ATLANTA — A lab analyst isn’t an “innocent bystander” but the person who actually peers into the microscope, makes observations about whether talc contains asbestos and collaborates closely with testifying witness William Longo in asbestos litigation, a talc company told a federal judge in Georgia in response to an objection to a magistrate judge’s ruling permitting the man’s deposition.
July 09, 2024
N.Y. Justice: Moline, Hospital Don’t Have To Disclose Asbestos Study Subjects

NEW YORK — Asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline and her employer obscured the names of individuals used on two of her studies on talc as required by law, and various Johnson & Johnson entities have not shown that they cannot challenge her opinions or adequately defend themselves absent the identity of those individuals, a New York justice said in granting a motion to quash and denying a motion to compel.
July 09, 2024
3rd Circuit Won’t Rehear Derivative Sovereign Immunity Ruling In Asbestos Action

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals entered a certified judgment after denying rehearing in a case in which it found in an unpublished opinion that because a U.S. Navy contractor complied with its contractual duties while operating a government-owned nuclear test laboratory, it is entitled to derivative sovereign immunity from an asbestos suit.
July 08, 2024
Judge: Plaintiffs Lack Standing To Block ‘Hypothetical’ J&J Asbestos Bankruptcy

TRENTON, N.J. — Class action plaintiffs told a federal judge in New Jersey that they would appeal his ruling denying a restraining order and finding that alleged injuries from a hypothetical future asbestos-talc bankruptcy and other potential conduct do not provide standing to enjoin the filing of such a case.
July 05, 2024
N.J. Court: Asbestos Parts Essential, Statute Of Repose Protects Turbine Work

TRENTON, N.J. — Worker safety did not fall within the purview of two contractors’ work at a power station, and asbestos-containing insulation did not lose its status as an essential component of the station’s turbines during removal and reinstallation overhauls, and associated claims are barred by the state’s statute of repose, a New Jersey appellate court said in a July 3 unpublished opinion affirming summary judgment for two companies.
June 28, 2024
COMMENTARY: Courts Must, As Recently Reminded, Follow The Law In Rule 702 Expert Testimony Determinations

By Erin Sheley
July 01, 2024
J&J Affiliate’s Fraud Claims Against Author Of Asbestos Talc Study Dismissed

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on June 28 granted a motion by the author of an asbestos talc study to dismiss a trade libel and fraud complaint filed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC after finding that the statements made by the author in an article in a medical journal about the presence of asbestos in J&J talcum powder are “scientific conclusions that are ‘more closely akin’ to nonactionable matters of opinion” rather than “actionable false representations of fact.”
June 28, 2024
Citing Spizzirri, Insurer Asks 7th Circuit To Dismiss Appeal In Arbitration Estoppel Row

CHICAGO — Arguing that Smith v. Spizzirri renders deficient “the basis for this Court’s appellate jurisdiction,” an insurer filed a June 27 motion in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss reinsurers’ fully briefed appeal concerning the effects of prior arbitration involving asbestos-related liabilities.
June 28, 2024
Australia Jury Hands Record-Setting Verdict In Mesothelioma Case

BRISBANE, Australia — An Australia jury awarded a record-setting $2 million to a man suffering from mesothelioma from handling James Hardie & Coy Pty Limited asbestos-containing products, sources told Mealey Publications.
June 28, 2024
Oregon Court Reverses $10M Asbestos Award Based On California Workers’ Comp Law

PORTLAND, Ore. — A trial court erred in granting a plaintiff partial summary judgment after concluding that it was the defendant’s burden to demonstrate that California’s workers’ compensation exclusivity provision applied to an asbestos case, the Oregon Court of Appeals said in an unpublished opinion, reversing a $10 million loss-of-consortium award.
June 27, 2024
Judge Denies Directed Verdict On Negligence Claims Against Libby, Mont., Railway

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Libby, Mont., plaintiffs made a prima facie showing that a railway failed to exercise proper care in the handling of asbestos around its railyard, causing it to contaminate surrounding areas, a federal judge in Montana said June 26 in denying a directed verdict after an $8 million verdict.
June 27, 2024
Asbestos Defendant Says Proper Bond Will Be Filed After Asbestos Verdict Dispute

LOS ANGELES — Parties to a more than $3 million judgment in an asbestos case appear to have resolved a dispute over the bond required for an appeal, with the defendant saying a proper bond should be filed before a hearing next month.
June 26, 2024
Judge Allows Discovery Into Successor Status In Asbestos Valves Case

NEW ORLEANS — Because the only evidence of whether a company qualifies as the successor-in-interest of another is in the possession of the defendant, its motion to dismiss implicates evidence outside the pleadings and requires limited discovery into the question, a federal judge in Louisiana said in denying a motion.
June 26, 2024
2 Stipulated Dismissals Granted In Insurer’s Suit Over Asbestos Liabilities Row

OMAHA, Neb. — Two defendants referred to as reinsurers in a suit National Indemnity Co. (NICO) filed over a $157.2 million settlement it reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures have been dismissed with prejudice under a joint stipulation that a Nebraska federal judge granted June 24.