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Mealey's Asbestos

  • August 30, 2024

    1 Of 3 Talc Entities Stuck In Connecticut Asbestos Suit, Judge Says

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A woman who claims that she was exposed to asbestos in consumer talc products establishes that one of three companies targeted the state and is subject to Connecticut’s long-arm statute by availing itself of the state’s markets but not the other two, a judge in the state said.

  • August 27, 2024

    Only Direct Claim Survives Dismissal Bids In Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment

    NEW YORK — Saying that amending those claims would be futile, a New York federal judge granted dismissal of bad faith, negligence and tortious interference claims against an insurer and a third-party claims administrator in a suit over a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment.

  • August 27, 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.

  • August 26, 2024

    Honeywell Prevails In California Motion Seeking Genetic Testing

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A man who suffered from two past cancers and whose brother also contracted mesothelioma must sit for a saliva or blood draw to determine whether he suffers from BAP1 cancer predisposition syndrome (BCPS), a California judge said in a tentative ruling granting a defense motion.

  • August 26, 2024

    South Carolina Top Court Affirms Increased Damages After Asbestos Verdict

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A trial court properly increased an asbestos award after finding it inadequate but not so grossly inadequate as to require a new trial and then properly offset that award by pretrial settlements allocated according to the plaintiffs’ wishes, a divided South Carolina Supreme Court said in affirming a verdict.

  • August 26, 2024

    Untimely Expert Report Ultimately Sinks FELA Asbestos Case, N.J. Court Says

    TRENTON, N.J. — A woman’s submission of an expert report nearly three months after the close of discovery was untimely and properly excluded, and without it she cannot meet the causation standard under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), a New Jersey appellate court said in an unpublished opinion affirming summary judgment in an asbestos case.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.