Mealey's Asbestos
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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.
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August 19, 2024
New York Justice Allows Discovery Into Jurisdiction Over Talc Company
NEW YORK — The justice who oversees New York City asbestos litigation has denied a motion to dismiss without prejudice to renewing the motion after discovery into a talc defendant’s contacts with the state.
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August 16, 2024
South Carolina Jury Awards Punitive Damages, $63.4M Total In Asbestos-Talc Case
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A jury in South Carolina on Aug. 15 found various Johnson & Johnson entities and American International Industries liable for man’s talc-related mesothelioma, awarding him $32.6 million in compensatory damages and adding another $30.7 million in punitive damages.
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August 16, 2024
Family Says Routine Asbestos Ruling, Case Setup Don’t Warrant Review
HOUSTON — An appeals court ruling simply evaluated the facts of a no-evidence motion for summary judgment and did not create a new causation standard for asbestosis cases despite a petitioner’s “chicken-little” misrepresentation of the case, and given the disease’s unique circumstances, the court should not attempt to grapple with any causation question without a more developed record, a family tells the Texas Supreme Court in urging it to deny review.
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August 15, 2024
Avon Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Citing Liability For Asbestos Talc Claims
WILMINGTON, Del. — The U.S. divisions of beauty product giant Avon have filed for bankruptcy protection due in part to asbestos talc lawsuits and received approval on Aug. 14 from a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge to obtain financing from their parent company to continue operating during the consolidated Chapter 11 case.
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August 15, 2024
New York Justice: Deposition Flaws Don’t Free Supply Company From Asbestos Suit
NEW YORK — An electrical supply company merely points to inconsistencies in a man’s product identification deposition testimony and never eliminates the possibility that its products contained asbestos and, therefore, could have caused a man’s lung cancer, a justice in New York said in denying a motion for summary judgment.
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August 14, 2024
Parties Brief Need To Stay 4th Circuit Appeal Over Talc Study Subpoena
RICHMOND, Va. — Frequent asbestos defendant American International Industries (AII) and a medical provider it subpoenaed over an article on talc causation briefed the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether it should stay the appeal pending resolution a motion for voluntarily dismissal in the underlying tort case.
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August 14, 2024
Revlon Bankruptcy Judge Enforces Bar Date Against Asbestos Talc Claimants
NEW YORK — Asbestos talc plaintiffs in 42 personal injury lawsuits naming Revlon as a defendant are barred from pursuing lawsuits against the cosmetics company by the discharge and injunction provisions of its confirmed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, a New York federal bankruptcy judge held in granting the former debtor’s motion to enforce the plan injunction and confirmation order.
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August 13, 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 13, 2024
Special Master Sides With Plaintiffs In Spat Over Lab Employee Deposition
TRENTON, N.J. — Two orders made clear that an asbestos-testing lab employee was not being deposed as an expert but rather about firsthand knowledge that could potentially fill in the gaps of expert William Longo’s testimony, a special master in the federal asbestos multidistrict litigation said in denying a motion to compel and for sanctions.
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August 12, 2024
Widow Says Vanderbilt Liable In Wake Of $15M Asbestos-Talc Verdict
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A widow told a Connecticut judge in briefing on post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, to set aside the verdict and remittitur that a jury properly held R.T. Vanderbilt Holding Co. Inc. liable for her husband’s fatal asbestos-talc exposures, that the court already addressed and rejected its liability arguments and that the $15 million award stands up to comparison alongside verdicts involving similar facts.
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August 12, 2024
Judge Overseeing AII Talc Case Grants Briefing In Wake Of Dismissal Motion
NEW YORK — Briefing on any issues remaining after a 42-year-old man with mesothelioma moved to dismiss his claims so he can enjoy his remaining life will proceed on defendant American International Industries’ (AII) schedule, a federal judge in New York said in turning away arguments that there were no more issues in the case and that the request for briefing was just one in a long effort at delay.
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August 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Reconsider Allowing Product Liability Claims Against Talc Processor
TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge denied reconsideration of a ruling denying an omnibus motion to dismiss in eight asbestos-talc cases, saying in the unpublished opinion that motions to dismiss are limited to the pleadings unlike the precedent cited by defendant PTI Union LLC and that the court acted within its powers to deny a motion for judicial notice.
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August 12, 2024
Let Medical Talc Case Proceed Against 2nd Defendant, Special Master Says
WOBURN, Mass. — Expert William Longo’s testing contributing to existing evidence of asbestos in talc used in a medical procedure, criticisms of a defendant’s own testing methods and the fact that the potential for asbestos-tainted talc was known decades before a man’s 2014 talc pleurodesis support denying the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, a special master in Massachusetts said in an Aug. 10 recommendation.
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August 09, 2024
Judge: No Filing Errors In Dismissed Asbestos Investor Claims Against Honeywell
WILMINGTON, Del. — After dismissing with prejudice a shareholders’ derivative complaint against Honeywell International Inc. brought by investors over the company’s 2018 announcement increasing its asbestos liability by more than $1 billion, a federal judge in Delaware issued an order determining that all parties complied with a procedural rule the judge said was required by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA).
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August 07, 2024
Judge Expands Briefing Opposing Efforts To Strike, Dismiss Asbestos RICO Case
CHICAGO — Asbestos defendant J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. received a little extra room for arguments opposing a law firm’s motions contending the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case targets protected litigation conduct after a federal judge in Illinois granted an unopposed motion for additional pages and clarified the briefing schedule.
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August 07, 2024
AII Seeks Time For Talc Case Dismissal Briefing; Man Says Move Is Unneeded Delay
NEW YORK — On the same day American International Industries (AII) asked for an extended briefing timeline on a motion by a 42-year-old man with mesothelioma to dismiss his claims so he can enjoy his remaining life, the man told a New York federal court that the company is refusing to take its win and instead continuing in its practice of unnecessarily extending the litigation. The letter briefs were filed Aug. 6.