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

Mealey's Asbestos

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.
November 21, 2023
New York Appellate Court Finds Experts’ Asbestos Product Testimony Sufficient

NEW YORK — Experts’ testimony about the doses of asbestos a woodworker would receive from mixing and sanding a product and that the exposures would exceed background levels suffices under New York law, a state appellate court said in affirming denial of summary judgment.
November 20, 2023
Catholic Church Can’t Secure Federal Jurisdiction Over Ex-Pupil’s Asbestos Case

NEW ORLEANS — Dismissal of the lone claims giving rise to federal jurisdiction, the more than year-long stay of the case and a new defendant for which there has been no discovery all warrant remanding an asbestos case, a federal judge in Louisiana said Nov. 17.
November 20, 2023
John Crane: Asbestos Damages Ruling Doesn’t Warrant Interlocutory Appeal

BOSTON — An asbestos plaintiff never availed herself of the court’s admiralty jurisdiction from which she now attempts an interlocutory appeal, and a decision limiting the damages she seeks does not determine any claims or liability as required for such an appeal, a defendant told the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 17 in asking the court to dismiss the appeal.
November 20, 2023
Reinsurers Fail To Stop New Arbitration By Citing Previous Arbitrations

CHICAGO — Ruling that “a dispute over the preclusive effect of a prior arbitration is arbitrable,” an Illinois federal judge granted an insurer’s motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the case filed by reinsurers without prejudice.
November 20, 2023
Family Of Mesothelioma Victim Says ‘Twilight Zone’ Case Needs No Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A unique case where a man can seek a tort remedy owing to the confluence of circumstances surrounding when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, state law and the “twilight zone” of the Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) present a rare situation, and the narrowly tailored ruling below needs no review, a family tells the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 17, 2023
Pipe Maker Awarded $8.8M Asbestos Verdict Disputes Tainted Jury Narrative

LOS ANGELES — The fact that the jury unanimously voted against imposing punitive damages demonstrates that there was no “serious . . . misconduct” tainting jurors who eventually awarded a nearly $9 million asbestos verdict, a couple argues in California trial court briefs opposing motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
November 16, 2023
Rhode Island Justice Says Defendant Was On Notice Of Tennessee Law Exceptions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A woman’s amended complaint adequately puts an asbestos defendant on notice of the claims against it and that she would invoke at least one exception to the Tennessee law protecting retailers from suit, a Rhode Island justice said in denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
November 16, 2023
Judge Admits Pair Of Experts, Grants Asbestos Plaintiffs Limited Surrebuttal

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An asbestos expert for two plaintiffs didn’t simply sign off on a counsel-authored report but provided adequate input of his own, and while challenged portions of a defense expert’s report largely constitute rebuttal, to the extent that they do not the plaintiffs may file a surrebuttal, a federal judge in a Libby, Mont., asbestos exposure case said Nov. 15 in denying motions to strike.
November 16, 2023
J&J Entities Urge Application Of Texas Law, Striking Of Talc Allegations

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A motion to strike allegations of asbestos exposure against a trio of Johnson & Johnson entities asks a Connecticut state court to address the narrow issue of whether Texas law applies and precludes finding that any one of them inherited talc-related liabilities, the companies argue in a reply brief.
November 16, 2023
Los Angeles Targets J&J’s Advertising Of Asbestos-Tainted Talc Products

LOS ANGELES — Johnson & Johnson and related entities marketed talc-based baby powder and Shower to Shower products to mothers and minorities despite knowing about the presence of asbestos, heavy metals and other contaminants that could not be removed, their link to ovarian cancer and the existence of potential alternatives without those risks, Los Angeles says in state court complaint alleging false advertising and unfair competition in violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL) and public nuisance.
November 16, 2023
Judge Vacates Sanctions Against Attorneys After $9.7M Asbestos Verdict

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin judge vacated sanctions against attorneys for discovery violations, saying there was nothing specific tying the attorneys to the company’s untimely disclosure of more than 1,500 documents related to a man’s workplace in an asbestos case that netted a $9.7 million verdict.
November 15, 2023
Judge Won’t Certify Appeal Of Maritime Asbestos Damages Ruling

BOSTON — A ruling limiting the types of damages available in a maritime asbestos action at most impacts what occurs at trial and even if reversed would not assist in resolving the case, a federal judge in Massachusetts said Nov. 14 in declining to certify an immediate appeal.
November 15, 2023
Court: Pennsylvania Disease Law Doesn’t Preclude Excluded Man’s Tort Action

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s occupational disease law does not apply to a claim where the disability does not result in lost wages and thus the statute’s exclusivity provision does not bar a tort action under both recent precedent and a “novel and persuasive” interpretation of existing precedent, a Pennsylvania appellate court said Nov. 14 in affirming denial of a motion to dismiss.
November 14, 2023
Law Firm: New York Conduct Didn’t Warrant Sanction In Asbestos Fee Dispute

RICHMOND, Va. — The “obvious linkage” standard a federal judge in Maryland applied for conduct in a separate case filed in a separate court gives courts expansive power to sanction, a law firm embroiled in a dispute over fees involving asbestos bankruptcy trust cases tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Nov. 13 brief.