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Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

  • December 19, 2024

    Johnson & Johnson Can’t Swap Entities As Defendants, R.I. Judge Says

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Plaintiffs are ultimately the masters of their complaints and may sue who they see fit, a Rhode Island judge said in denying LLT Management LLC’s and Johnson & Johnson Holdco Inc.’s motion to substitute two related entities they claim now hold asbestos-talc related liabilities.

  • December 19, 2024

    Talc Supplier Tells 3rd Circuit No Cause Shown To Dismiss Chapter 11 Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A receiver appointed in South Carolina for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) had no authority to place the company into bankruptcy in New Jersey because he never applied to be appointed as ancillary receiver, so the Chapter 11 petition approved by WCD’s board is valid and a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge’s denial of the receiver’s bid to dismiss the case should stand, the debtor told the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 18 in a consolidated appeal of the ruling.

  • December 18, 2024

    Contempt, Stay At Issue In Asbestos Expert Subpoena Case

    NEW YORK — An asbestos expert, her hospital employer and Johnson & Johnson, locked in a battle over production of the identities of individuals the expert relied on in a study on talc exposures, briefed a New York Supreme Court justice on whether contempt sanctions are warranted for failure to produce evidence or whether a forthcoming motion to reargue and a pending motion for a protective order stayed an appellate court’s ruling, according to documents filed on the court’s docket.

  • December 17, 2024

    Experts, Punitive Damages At Heart Of Connecticut Motions After $15M Talc Verdict

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A man urged a Connecticut judge to impose punitive damages in the wake of a $15 million verdict, saying that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) knew for decades about the dangers of asbestos and that there were asbestos fibers in its talc products but continued marketing a product that would be used on children.  But in a trio of briefs, J&J and its various entities said the verdict resulted from improper court decisions on the admission of experts, wrongly given instructions and belabored references to other litigation the company faces.

  • December 17, 2024

    J&J Opposes Pro Hac Vice Status In Wake Of Conduct Behind New Trial Order

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Johnson & Johnson entities urged a judge not to renew the pro hac vice status of plaintiff attorney Ben Adams citing the failure to heed court orders and other misconduct that a trial court judge found reached such a level that it likely influenced the jury and required retrying a case that produced a $260 million asbestos-talc verdict that originally included $200 million in punitive damages.

  • December 12, 2024

    No Cert Petition Planned For Dismissal Of J&J Spinoff’s 2nd Chapter 11 Case

    TRENTON, N.J. — There will be no U.S. Supreme Court petition filed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LLT Management LLC over the second dismissal of its Chapter 11 case, the Official Committee of Talc Claimants told a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge in preparation for a hearing to decide if the case should be closed.

  • December 10, 2024

    Georgia-Pacific Spinoff Not ‘Actually Bankrupt’ Debtor, Asbestos Claimants Argue

    RICHMOND, Va. — Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC fails to convincingly argue that a bankruptcy court’s denial of a motion to dismiss its Chapter 11 case should be affirmed and does not “offer a single historical analog permitting any similar non-bankrupt debtor to enter bankruptcy,” the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a reply brief in support of its appeal.

  • December 06, 2024

    Senators Reintroduce Bill Barring Texas 2-Step Restructurings, Nondebtor Releases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three U.S. senators reintroduced a bill on Dec. 5 that would force courts to dismiss any Chapter 11 case where a company has used the Texas Two-Step to place all of its liabilities, usually from asbestos personal injury claims, with a spinoff company that then files for bankruptcy protection.  The measure would also prohibit the use of nonconsensual, nondebtor releases of third parties in bankruptcy cases, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently held are illegal.

  • December 04, 2024

    Judge Grants Contempt Hearing In Asbestos Dispute Over Expert Moline, Northwell

    NEW YORK — A New York justice on Dec. 3 issued an order scheduling a show-cause hearing on a motion seeking to hold an asbestos expert and her employer in contempt of court for “brazenly” ignoring court rulings after the state’s high court denied leave to appeal a decision compelling production of the identities of participants in expert Jacqueline Moline’s asbestos-talc studies.

  • December 03, 2024

    Law Firms, Clients Say Ben Nye Bar Date, Plan Confirmation Should Be Reversed

    SAN FRANCISCO — California federal bankruptcy court orders setting a bar date for asbestos personal injury claims and confirming the reorganization plan for Chapter 11 Subchapter V debtor cosmetics company Ben Nye Co. Inc. should be reversed because “they violate principles of statutory construction, Ninth Circuit precedent on when a bankruptcy ‘claim’ matures, and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” asbestos plaintiffs and law firms argue in their opening appeal brief to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP).

  • December 03, 2024

    Angelos, Asbestos Claimants Resolve Asbestos Malpractice Claims For $57M

    BALTIMORE — A judge in Maryland granted final approval of a $57 million settlement resolving asbestos claimants’ legal malpractice claims stemming from Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos PC’s failure to file timely actions after learning about insurance proceeds available in a settlement.

  • December 03, 2024

    Union Carbide Prevails In Rare Rhode Island Asbestos Trial

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island jury returned a defense verdict for Union Carbide Corp. in a case alleging that a woman died after asbestos exposure suffered when she laundered her former husband’s clothing; the trial is the first time an asbestos case in the state has gone to jury in nearly 40 years, sources told Mealey Publications.

  • December 02, 2024

    Connecticut Judge Adds $7.5 Million To Vanderbilt Asbestos-Talc Award

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A judge in Connecticut added $7.5 million in punitive damages to an asbestos verdict, turning away attempts to relitigate successor liability and saying the conduct in question and jury’s findings support the award.  The amount represents half the compensatory damages granted by a jury earlier this year.

  • November 27, 2024

    Chapter 11 Asbestos Debtor’s Settlement Protections Too Broad, U.S. Trustee Says

    RICHMOND, Va. — Two settlements among new Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. and its insurers to help fund a trust to pay asbestos personal injury claims cannot be approved because the agreements purport to protect nondebtor third parties in violation of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the U.S. trustee tells a Virginia federal bankruptcy court in his objection to the deals.

  • November 27, 2024

    J&J’s Latest Debtor Fends Off Claimants’ Bid For Venue Reconsideration

    HOUSTON — A request by certain asbestos talc claimants’ counsel for reconsideration of an order denying their motion to transfer venue for the Chapter 11 case of the latest Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff, Red River Talc LLC, was denied by a Texas federal bankruptcy judge.

  • November 25, 2024

    Missouri Jury Returns Defense Verdict For Employer In Asbestos Case

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri jury found for a defendant in an asbestos case after the state’s appellate court allowed the suit to proceed against the woman’s employer after concluding that it didn’t comply with the state’s special mesothelioma insurance provision and the Missouri Supreme Court declined to step in.

  • November 25, 2024

    Oregon Judge Reduces $200M Asbestos-Talc Punitive Damages Award

    PORTLAND, Ore. — After finding a $200 million punitive damages award constitutional in an asbestos case, an Oregon judge reduced that award to $120 million, citing evidence that Johnson & Johnson already ceased production of the talc-based baby powder at issue in the case and previously paid punitive damages for the conduct.  J&J moved to stay enforcement of the judgment.

  • November 22, 2024

    COMMENTARY: 2024 Key Insurance Decisions, Trends & Developments & A Look Ahead To 2025

    By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova

  • November 21, 2024

    J&J Talc Debtor Wants Lawyer Sanctioned For Skipping Deposition

    HOUSTON — The debtor created in Johnson & Johnson’s third attempt at a bankruptcy resolution to asbestos-talc claims urged a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas to sanction an attorney who failed to appear for a deposition, saying a pending motion to quash does not give the deponent permission to simply decide not to appear.

  • November 20, 2024

    Talc Claimants Appeal Automatic Stay Ruling In J&J’s 3rd Spinoff Bankruptcy

    HOUSTON — A coalition of attorneys for thousands of asbestos talc plaintiffs appealed to a federal district court a decision by a Texas federal bankruptcy judge in an adversary action that the plaintiffs’ claims against the latest Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff, Red River Talc LLC, and its affiliates are blocked for now by the automatic bankruptcy stay.

  • November 19, 2024

    Compelling Arbitration, Judge Says MOU Is ‘Closely Related’ To Reinsurance Contract

    LOS ANGELES — Concluding that a 1984 memorandum of understanding (MOU) is “closely related to the reinsurance contract and not a completely separate agreement,” a California federal judge granted reinsurers’ motion to compel arbitration in a lawsuit over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims.

  • November 18, 2024

    Delaware Judge Won’t Modify Receivership Over Asbestos Company

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge declined to modify a receivership to permit the marshalling of a dissolved company’s assets and defense of asbestos claims in four cases spread out over three states after an insurance company argued that the modification would skip procedures already put in place and essentially grant the relief sought by the original petition.

  • November 04, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Lady Justice May Be Blind, But Her Courts Aren’t: Gender Bias And Barriers To Representation For Female Plaintiffs

    By Sophie Zavaglia

  • November 14, 2024

    Revlon Talc Claimants’ Direct Appeal Request Debated In 2nd Circuit

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reject a petition for a direct appeal of a New York federal bankruptcy judge’s decision barring asbestos talc plaintiffs from pursuing claims against former debtor Revlon Inc. under the discharge and injunction provisions of its confirmed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization and instead send the dispute to a district court to review the questions presented “in the first instance,” the reorganized debtor says in an opposition brief.

  • November 14, 2024

    Oregon Judge Finds $200M Punitive Damages Constitutional In Asbestos Case

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon judge declined to reduce or vacate $200 million in punitive damages awarded in an asbestos-talc case against Johnson & Johnson, saying the jury’s $60 million in noneconomic damages supports finding that the award passes constitutional muster.