Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy
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August 18, 2023
Amici Say Potential Fraud Warrants Unsealing Lawyer’s Complaint
LOS ANGELES — A bankrupt asbestos defendant and an industry group, acting as amici curiae, tell a California court that the possibility that an asbestos attorney’s lawsuit against his former employer could reveal ongoing fraud and misconduct warrants unsealing the unredacted version of his complaint.
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August 18, 2023
Illinois Wrongful Death Statute Expanded To Permit Punitive Damages
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois will immediately begin permitting punitive damages in wrongful death actions after the state’s governor signed legislation amending the state’s wrongful death act.
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August 18, 2023
Expert Will Help Advance Asbestos Coverage Suit, Nash Chapter 7 Trustee Says
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Once the Chapter 7 trustee for debtor The Nash Engineering Co. hires an expert to analyze the company’s insurance coverage for asbestos claims, he will seek to have the automatic stay lifted so certain insurers can continue to prosecute their declaratory judgment coverage action, the trustee says in a status report filed in Connecticut federal court.
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August 18, 2023
Receiver, Claimants Appeal Rejection Of Dismissal For Talc Supplier’s Chapter 11
TRENTON, N.J. — The receiver for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) and the Official Committee of Talc Claimants in the company’s Chapter 11 case appealed a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court’s denial of their motions to dismiss the case to federal court after their request for a direct appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was turned down by the bankruptcy court.
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August 17, 2023
No Evidence Of Bankruptcy Trust Shenanigans, Judge Says
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — While a railroad claims that plaintiffs are intentionally delaying submissions to the W.R. Grace & Co. bankruptcy trust, the evidence shows that resolution of those types of claims can take upward of 20 years, a federal judge in Montana said in declining to stay the case and finding that a railroad could not attempt to pin liability on W.R. Grace, settled defendants or the state of Montana under state law.
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August 17, 2023
Judge: Supreme Court Ruling On Jurisdiction Can’t Keep Talc Case In California
LOS ANGELES — A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding Pennsylvania’s business registration statute sufficient for jurisdiction does not assist California asbestos plaintiffs because the state lacks a similar statute, a Los Angeles County judge said in granting three defendants’ motion to quash service of summons.
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August 16, 2023
Plan Confirmation Hearing Scheduled For Hess Unit HONX
HOUSTON — The parties in the Chapter 11 case of Hess Corp. affiliate HONX Inc. have agreed to a schedule that culminates with a trial on Oct. 10 to confirm the debtor’s plan of reorganization after the plan’s disclosure statement was approved by a Texas federal bankruptcy judge.
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August 16, 2023
Bankruptcy Dismissal Lifts Stay Of Asbestos-Talc Appeal, J&J Admits
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dismissal of the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy and its automatic stay provision means a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving allegations that two talc companies violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) by advertising their products as pure despite knowing that they were contaminated with asbestos may proceed, LTL Management said in an Aug. 15 status update.
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August 14, 2023
With Punitive Damages Pending, Parties Settle $20M Asbestos-Talc Case
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — After the parties filed briefs on the appropriateness of punitive damages in the wake of a $20 million asbestos-talc verdict, one of the defendants told a Connecticut judge on Aug. 11 that the parties had resolved the case, mooting pending post-trial motions.
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August 11, 2023
Asbestos Referral Fee Ruling Sends ‘Embarrassment’ Of Case Back To 4th Circuit
BALTIMORE — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will once again confront a case a judge on the court previously described as “an embarrassment to the legal profession,” after lawyers and law firms hit with more than $1 million in fees and costs for “never once” complying with court-ordered discovery in a dispute over asbestos case referrals filed a notice of appeal on Aug. 10.
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August 10, 2023
4th Circuit Denies Full Rehearing Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor Injunction Appeal
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals turned down requests by the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants and the future claimants’ representative (FCR) in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific (GP) spinoff Bestwall LLC for the full court to rehear a divided decision affirming injunctive relief for the bankruptcy parties.
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August 10, 2023
Asbestos Screener At Heart Of Libby, Mont., False Claims Verdict Files Bankruptcy
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Libby, Mont., asbestos disease screener hit with $5.8 million in damages and penalties for filing false claims under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) program created under Medicare has declared bankruptcy.
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August 04, 2023
Asbestos Firm’s Bid To Disqualify FCR In J&J Case Rejected By Bankruptcy Judge
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge denied a request by an asbestos law firm to disqualify the future claimants’ representative (FCR) in the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC based on a photo of her having dinner with representatives of J&J, the debtor and asbestos claimants, saying the motion “lacks any legal or factual basis.”
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August 03, 2023
8th Circuit Affirms Exclusion Of Experts, Summary Judgment In FELA Asbestos Case
ST. LOUIS — Even assuming that the record allowed for the conclusion that a man was exposed to asbestos and other toxins at a railway, there is nothing establishing the level of exposure, and a court properly excluded expert testimony based on the belief that there was sufficient evidence of such exposure, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Aug. 2 in affirming summary judgment to a railway company.
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August 02, 2023
Bankruptcy Movement Disclosure A Must, Asbestos Securities Plaintiffs Say On Appeal
NEW YORK — Having made representations to investors about the “smooth sailing” resulting from its liquidity and financial flexibility, the law obligated an automotive company spun off by Honeywell Inc. and burdened with its asbestos liabilities to disclose the active steps it was taking toward bankruptcy, investors told the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 1 opening brief.
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August 02, 2023
Asbestos Defendant Says Recent Authority Supports Causation Specificity Argument
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Recent out-of-state rulings support the conclusion that the presence of visible dust does not satisfy the causation standard in Connecticut, which instead requires specificity regarding the dose of asbestos, a defendant told a state court judge in a statement of supplemental authority in support of a motion to set aside a verdict.
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July 31, 2023
Johnson & Johnson Debtor’s Bankruptcy Case Booted Again As Bad Faith Filing
TRENTON, N.J. — The Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC was dismissed for the second time on July 28, with a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge finding that the debtor failed to show that it was in “imminent” or “immediate” financial distress as required by the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals when it dismissed the first case for being filed in bad faith.
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July 26, 2023
Debtor Talc Supplier Battles With Receiver, Claimants Over Direct Appeal
TRENTON, N.J. — A direct appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is warranted for a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge’s refusal to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) because the decision raises unprecedented questions of law, the company’s receiver and the Official Committee of Talc Claimants say in a reply supporting their motion to certify the appeal.
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July 26, 2023
Talc Debtor’s Nominee For FCR Approved By Bankruptcy Court
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge approved the choice of former talc supplier and current Chapter 11 debtor Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) for a future claimants’ representative (FCR) for asbestos claims over the objections of the U.S. trustee and a talc claimants committee.
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July 25, 2023
Asbestos Verdicts & Settlements: January 2022 – December 2022
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.
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July 25, 2023
Parties Brief Precedent In Asbestos-Talc Concealment Class Certification Issue
TRENTON, N.J. — Parties in July briefed a federal judge in New Jersey on the impact of a recent Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion and how it impacts Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) motion to deny class certification and strike allegations that it secured favorable settlements and dismissal by fraudulently concealing the presence of asbestos in talc from tort plaintiffs.
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July 25, 2023
Asbestos Firms, Insolvent Insurer Group Duel In Settlement Appeal
NEW ORLEANS — An appeal by two asbestos law firms of a Louisiana federal bankruptcy judge’s approval of a $1 million settlement between the Chapter 7 trustee for a bankrupt insulation supplier and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) should be tossed because the firms’ arguments against dismissal “focus primarily on rehashing their arguments before the Bankruptcy Court,” the trustee and LIGA argue in a reply brief in federal court.
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July 21, 2023
Kentucky High Court Allows Teacher’s Asbestos Claim Against School Board
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s workers’ compensation system applies to a teacher and the school board that employed him, and a statute covering negligence actions against the commonwealth does not preclude the asbestos-related action, the Kentucky Supreme Court said.
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July 21, 2023
California Jury Awards $18.8M Against J&J For Man’s Mesothelioma
LOS ANGELES — A California jury hit Johnson & Johnson with an $18.8 million verdict in an asbestos-talc case freed from the company’s related bankruptcy stay and held it 100% liable for the 25-year-old’s mesothelioma.
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July 21, 2023
Judge Adopts Fees Ruling, Finding Lawyers Never Complied With Court Orders
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland said she agreed “wholesale” with a magistrate judge’s conclusion that much of the litigation over asbestos case referral fees could have been avoided had the defendant simply complied with the court’s discovery order.