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Mealey's Asbestos

  • March 28, 2025

    Citing Case Complexity, Judge Declines Jurisdiction Over State Law Asbestos Claims

    LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs must disclose when they learned the identify of certain coworkers in an asbestos case, and a stipulation eliminating liability arising from government work and government contractor and immunity defenses stripped the case of federal jurisdiction, and the action’s complexity warrants remanding it to a Los Angeles County court, a federal judge in California said while retaining jurisdiction over only pending motions.

  • March 27, 2025

    Widow: Court Misinterpreted Delaware Law In Worker’s Mesothelioma Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Lower courts misinterpreted state law governing employee disability and ignored expert testimony about the extent of a man’s losses caused by his mesothelioma’s impact on his organs, a widow tells the Delaware Supreme Court.

  • March 27, 2025

    New York Justice: Asbestos Study Subpoena Challenge Wasn’t Contempt

    NEW YORK — An asbestos expert’s and hospital’s delay in producing the identities of asbestos-talc study participants while they challenged a ruling requiring compliance with the subpoena constitutes zealous advocacy rather than clear disobedience, a New York justice said in declining to find contempt on the grounds that doing so would “chill such advocacy” and that attorney fees weren’t appropriate.

  • March 26, 2025

    Justice: J&J Successors Can’t Escape Rhode Island Asbestos-Talc Suit

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island law governs successor liability issues in an asbestos-talc case against Johnson & Johnson entities and precludes dismissing the case, a justice in the state said in denying the motion.

  • March 25, 2025

    Shipyard’s Employment Record Production Moots Motion To Compel

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate judge in Louisiana denied as moot a motion to withdraw a motion to compel production after a shipyard – through what it termed “great effort” – secured authorized release of employment records in a take-home asbestos case.

  • March 25, 2025

    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.

  • March 21, 2025

    Asbestos Ruling Didn’t Change New York Summary Judgment Standard, Justice Says

    NEW YORK — A cosmetics company filed notice that it would appeal a New York justice’s denial of its motion to renew and conclusion that an appellate ruling finding that Texas law applied to an asbestos case did not upend the long-established New York law or entitle the manufacturer to summary judgment.

  • March 21, 2025

    Florida Jury Awards $18M In Asbestos Case Against Brake Grinding Manufacturer

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida jury awarded $18 million to a woman suffering from malignant epithelioid mesothelioma, finding that brake grinding machine manufacturer Hennessy Industries Inc.’s negligence caused her take-home exposures and apportioning it 15% of the liability. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • March 21, 2025

    Asbestos Pipe Maker Settles Delaware Case, Resolves Adverse Instruction Spat

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An asbestos pipe maker in the process of seeking reargument of a ruling granting an adverse instruction about the company’s destruction of corporate documents moved to dismiss the case, saying it resolved the case and a host of others.

  • March 21, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses RICO Case Against Asbestos Plaintiffs’ Firm

    CHICAGO — Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims brought against an asbestos plaintiffs’ law firm never adequately identify the enterprise in question or how the entities operated, a federal judge in Illinois said in dismissing the federal claims and declining to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims.

  • March 20, 2025

    New York Court Affirms Causation, Punitive Damages In Asbestos Boiler Case

    NEW YORK — Testimony from an industrial hygienist and thoracic surgeon satisfied the specific causation standard in New York, and there was no error in not precluding a boiler company from cross-examining the surgeon about exposures for which it had not established liability, a New York appellate court said while finding punitive damages appropriate and the damages not beyond what a reasonable person would expect.

  • March 20, 2025

    Discovery Violations Lead To Default, $16.2M Verdict In Washington Asbestos Case

    TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington judge hit Canadian mining outfit Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) with a $16.2 million verdict after entering default judgment against the company for failure to comply with discovery rulings.

  • March 19, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Tolling Of Asbestos FELA Suit Can’t Be Indefinite

    NEW ORLEANS — Any implied agreement indefinitely tolling the statute of limitations in a Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) asbestos case runs afoul of Texas law precluding such arrangements, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in affirming summary judgment for a railroad.

  • March 19, 2025

    J&J: Jury’s Defense Verdict, Punitive Damages Award Doesn’t Require New Trial

    PITTSBURGH — Evidentiary and expert rulings in an asbestos case largely favored the plaintiff, and a jury likely awarded her punitive damages despite finding no evidence of causation based on closing arguments and a verdict form that encouraged the jury to skip the page with instructions on those damages, Johnson & Johnson entities tells a Pittsburgh judge in opposing a new trial motion.

  • March 19, 2025

    Canadian Asbestos Miner Seeks Judge’s Removal After $1,000 Discovery Sanction

    LOS ANGELES — Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) filed a brief in a California court arguing that its peremptory challenge to the judge overseeing an asbestos case was timely after informing the court that it could not receive a fair hearing from the judge, who previously found that it “willfully and intentionally” failed to comply with court-ordered discovery.

  • March 18, 2025

    BNSF: Common Carrier, Federal Law Preclude Liability, $8M Asbestos Verdict

    SAN FRANCISCO — Railways carrying material under federal law are common carriers and can’t be held strictly liable, and federal law preempts state laws attempting to do so, BNSF Railway Co. tells a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a March 17 brief, hoping to erase an $8 million asbestos verdict stemming from its handling of asbestos-tainted vermiculite at the Libby, Mont., mine.

  • March 18, 2025

    Bankrupt Company Says Asbestos Suit Against Receiver Belongs In State Court

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bankrupt company tells a federal judge in South Carolina that a February ruling supports limiting precedent on federal jurisdiction to bankruptcy cases and instances where a removing entity was an actual party to the case, while urging the court to reject insurers’ attempts to remove an asbestos action against a receiver for Canadian-based Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL).

  • March 18, 2025

    Company Urges Review Of Genetic Testing Ruling In California Asbestos Case

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A trial court evaluated a motion to compel simple and potentially conclusive genetic testing in a mesothelioma case under the standard for admissibility when it should have done so under the standard for relevance, a company told the California Supreme Court in a petition for review.

  • March 18, 2025

    Panel Says Underlying Asbestos Suits Are Covered Under Premises-Operations Policies

    FORT WORTH, Texas — The Second District Texas Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s ruling that an insurer has a continued duty to defend its insured against underlying asbestos bodily injury lawsuits because the trial court properly found that the underlying allegations fall within the policies’ premises-operations coverage and the insurer failed to show that its policies have been exhausted.

  • March 17, 2025

    Plaintiffs Say Recent Ruling Supports Summary Judgment On Government Immunity

    NEW ORLEANS — Yet another jurist has joined the chorus of judges rejecting a shipyard’s government immunity defense to claims that it failed to warn workers about the dangers of asbestos at its facility, a woman’s family told a federal court in Louisiana on March 14 in a supplemental brief on the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

  • March 17, 2025

    Asbestos Company Can’t Get Costs, Access To Expert In Voluntarily Dismissed Case

    NEW YORK — A mesothelioma sufferer cannot be required to continue litigating a five-year-old asbestos case against the lone remaining defendant in his case so that the company can depose an expert and avoid litigation costs in other cases against it, a federal judge in New York said in adopting a magistrate judge’s ruling and granting the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.

  • March 12, 2025

    Asbestos Case Disclaimer Defeats Removal, 9th Circuit Affirms

    PHOENIX — A district court did not err in declining to exercise maritime jurisdiction and remanding a case where a man disclaimed any liability related to asbestos exposures associated with the U.S. Navy, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in an unpublished memorandum opinion.

  • March 12, 2025

    Judge: Shipyard Not Entitled To Government Contractor Immunity In Warning Case

    NEW ORLEANS — Neither the fact that the government required the use of asbestos nor compliance with general and minimum safety requirements entitles a shipyard to government contractor immunity from claims that it failed to warn workers about the dangers of asbestos at the facility, a federal judge in Louisiana said in granting a plaintiff summary judgment on the contractor defense.

  • March 12, 2025

    9th Circuit: Navy Boilers Not Commercial Products, No Strict Liability

    PASADENA, Calif. — Boilers supplied for use on U.S. Navy vessels were custom built to government specifications, and because they were not commercially available, a judge properly declined to instruct a jury on strict liability, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said March 11 in affirming a judge’s ruling in an asbestos case that ended in a defense verdict.

  • March 11, 2025

    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.