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

Mealey's Asbestos

July 24, 2024
Man Drops Reliance On Expert Moline’s 2023 Asbestos-Talc Study

NEW YORK — A man pursuing a mesothelioma action against American International Industries (AII) told a New York federal court in a letter that he would withdraw reliance on expert Jacqueline Moline’s 2023 article titled “Exposure to Cosmetic Talc and Mesothelioma” and requested that the related pending motions and discovery requests be denied.
July 24, 2024
Shipyard Defendant Can’t Raise Government Immunity In Asbestos Case, Judge Says

NEW ORLEANS — A bankruptcy moots a decision on summary judgment in one instance, but in granting summary judgment and precluding a shipyard from raising the government immunity defense, a federal judge said Louisiana federal courts routinely hold that the defendant is not entitled to the defense.
July 23, 2024
Libby, Mont., Resident Opposes Stay In Asbestos Trust Personal Injury Case

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Libby, Mont., resident who sued the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury trust in Montana federal court after having his claim denied says staying the action now means more delay for a claim already pending for almost two decades.
July 22, 2024
Parties To Asbestos-Talc Subpoena Appeal Debate Impact Of Expert Ruling

RICHMOND, Va. — Parties to a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving a ruling quashing a subpoena into the identifies of individuals who participated on a causation study recently filed letter briefs about the relevance of a ruling dismissing LTL Management LLC’s case against a different expert.
July 22, 2024
Decades-Old MOU Is Focus Of Lawsuit Over Reinsurance Billings Dispute

LOS ANGELES — Suing two English reinsurers in a California court in a dispute over “millions” in reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims, an insurer alleges that an incorrect interpretation of a 1984 memorandum of understanding (MOU) is at the root of their refusal to pay.
July 19, 2024
Judge Rejects Preemption, Strict Liability Arguments After $8M Asbestos Verdict

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Federal law preempting regulations on railway operations does not cover strict liability claims stemming from the accumulation of asbestos and asbestos-tainted vermiculite at a Libby, Mont., railway, a federal judge in Montana said in denying a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
July 19, 2024
California Anti-SLAPP Statute Dooms RICO Asbestos Action, Law Firm Defendants Say

CHICAGO — Common contacts in California means that state’s anti-SLAPP statute governs a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit filed in Illinois federal claiming that a law firm fabricated asbestos claims and because the action targets protected conduct, the entire suit must be dismissed, Simmons Hanley Conroy LLP say in a motion to strike.
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.”