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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

March 23, 2023
Georgia-Pacific Debtor Says LTL Management Ruling Does Not Support Claimants

RICHMOND, Va. — Nothing in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ recent bad faith dismissal of the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson spinoff LTL Management LLC supports asbestos claimants’ arguments in their Fourth Circuit appeal of injunctions protecting Georgia-Pacific in the bankruptcy of its spinoff, Bestwall LLC, according to Bestwall’s response to the claimants’ notice of supplemental authority (Bestwall LLC, et al. v. Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants, et al., Nos. 22-1127, 22-1135, 4th Cir.).
March 22, 2023
Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Debtors Oppose Lifting Stay For Asbestos Suit In Pa. Court

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With no “new developments or unique circumstances” since Ingersoll-Rand affiliates Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, lifting the automatic stay to allow Murray to be added as a defendant in a state court asbestos suit is not called for, the debtors contend in an opposition brief filed in North Carolina federal bankruptcy court.
March 22, 2023
Delaware Judge Agrees To Appoint Receiver Over Enstar’s Dissolved Reinz Entity

WILMINGTON, Del. — A judge in the Delaware Chancery Court found that although a woman with asbestos claims is not a creditor of a dissolved company, she has standing to seek appointment of a receiver because she demonstrated that insurance assets likely remained when the company dissolved.
March 21, 2023
Stay Altered So Former Officers Of Debtor Nash Can Get Defense Costs Paid

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Three former officers and directors of debtor The Nash Engineering Co. were granted relief from the automatic stay by a Connecticut federal bankruptcy judge so one of the company’s insurers can pay their defense costs for claims leveled by the Chapter 7 trustee that they breached their fiduciary duties when negotiating settlements with asbestos insurers.
March 21, 2023
Boiler Company Must Face Punitive Damages In New York Asbestos Case

NEW YORK — An expert’s single study involving asbestos, untethered from the boilers in question and in the face of corporate representative testimony that the company never placed warnings on its products, does not preclude punitive damages, a New York justice said.
March 17, 2023
Justice: Asbestos-Talc Award Of $15M In Drywall Case Survives Post-Trial Motions

NEW YORK — The historical and real-life evidence relied on by experts at an asbestos trial differs from “glove box” testing rejected in a recent appellate case and sufficiently established both exposure and causation, a New York justice said in denying both a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
March 17, 2023
Claimants: Another Look At Dismissal Needed For Bestwall Chapter 11 Case

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Even though a judge in North Carolina federal bankruptcy court rejected a dismissal bid for the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC nearly four years ago, he still has “both the authority and the obligation to re-examine the question of good faith and financial distress” in filing the case after a corporate restructuring, asbestos claimants say in a reply in support of their motion to dismiss.
March 17, 2023
As Receiver Seeks Information, Asbestos-Talc Defendant Wants Appointment Nixed

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The receiver appointed by a South Carolina court to oversee the assets of Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) asked the court to clarify its ruling and order the company and its counsel to comply, while on March 16 the company asked for reconsideration of the ruling.
March 16, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendants Face Punitive Damages After $20M Verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A federal judge set briefing on the issue of punitive damages after a Connecticut jury found against both asbestos defendants and awarded $20 million in compensatory damages to a woman.
March 15, 2023
Washington Court Rejects Causation, Exposure Challenges To $16.67M Asbestos Verdict

SEATTLE — Evidence that a company supplied more than 140 asbestos-containing dryer felts to a facility during the time of a man’s alleged exposure and evidence regarding the work done at the facility established exposure and causation, and any error in a curative instruction was harmless, a Washington appeals court said in affirming a $16.67 million plaintiff verdict.
March 15, 2023
Bestwall Asbestos Claimants Get Discovery Sanctions Appeal Put On Hold

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has placed in abeyance an appeal by asbestos personal injury claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC of the dismissal of their challenges to a bankruptcy judge’s contempt finding against them for not providing complete information to the debtor in a discovery questionnaire, pending a decision in two similar appeals that were consolidated.
March 14, 2023
Oregon Jury Awards $18.5M In Asbestos Case Against Talc Supplier

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury awarded $18.5 million on negligence and product liability claims stemming from a woman’s death from mesothelioma after exposure to Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) talc.
March 13, 2023
Claimants Oppose Rehearing For 3rd Circuit’s Dismissal Of J&J Debtor’s Bankruptcy

PHILADELPHIA — Rehearing of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC should be dismissed is not needed because the panel correctly held that the debtor was not in financial distress, which is “an ordinary requirement for bankruptcy,” the committee of asbestos claimants in the case tells the court in a brief in opposition to the debtor’s rehearing bid.
March 13, 2023
United States Seeks Reconsideration Of Libby, Mont., Asbestos Deposition Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States has asked for leave to file a motion for reconsideration, telling a federal judge in Montana that having two agencies appear for deposition in a dispute over fraud claims stemming from asbestos-related Medicare claims related to Libby, Mont., would require marshalling numerous individuals from several different agencies and asking them to duplicate already performed work without any likelihood of producing relevant evidence.
March 13, 2023
Judge Reduces California Asbestos Award, Otherwise Denies Post-Trial Motions

LOS ANGELES — A California judge mostly denied two asbestos-talc defendants’ motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, agreeing only that the award for future noneconomic damages should be reduced to $17.5 million from $25 million.
March 08, 2023
Asbestos Pipe Maker Free From Punitive Damages After N.Y. Court Denies Reargument

NEW YORK — A New York appeals court denied a motion for reargument of its decision that allegations that a pipe manufacturer committed gross negligence by not labeling every length of asbestos-containing pipe with a warning do not rise to the type of malice required for a punitive damages claim.
March 07, 2023
South Carolina Jury Awards $29.1M In Asbestos-Talc Case

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Plaintiffs awarded $29,139,691 in an asbestos-talc case against Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc.(WCD) have asked the court to appoint a receiver for the company, saying that if it isn’t there already, the company faces “imminent danger” of future insolvency.
February 24, 2023
Government Must Testify In Medicare-Asbestos Fraud Case, Judge Says

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana granted a joint motion to compel trial testimony from two government entities on possibly fraudulent Medicare claims stemming from Libby, Mont., asbestos exposures, saying that they alone possessed the information and that the evidence was material to the case.
February 23, 2023
‘Devastating Consequences’ If Study Subject Identities Are Released, Briefs Warn

NEW YORK — Expert Jacqueline Moline, her employer and an asbestos plaintiff tell a federal judge in New York in Feb. 22 letter briefs that experts on both sides agree that study participants retain an expectation of privacy even if their information becomes available through other means and warn of the “devastating consequences” should the court deviate from that bedrock principle and require disclosure of their identities.
February 23, 2023
Bankruptcy Judge Confirms Asbestos Debtor ON Marine’s Plan Of Liquidation

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal bankruptcy judge has entered findings of fact, conclusions of law and an order approving and confirming the combined plan of liquidation and disclosure statement for Chapter 11 debtor ON Marine Services Co. LLC, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 under the weight of thousands of asbestos personal injury claims.
February 22, 2023
Claimant Seeks Dismissal Of Chapter 11 Case Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor Bestwall

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With two federal circuit courts recently ruling on what constitutes a bad faith bankruptcy in cases also involving debtors created in corporate restructurings to absorb affiliates’ asbestos liability, it’s time to again look at whether the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC should be dismissed for lack of the “overwhelming liability” required of a debtor to enter bankruptcy, an asbestos claimant and his wife say in a motion to dismiss filed more than three years after a North Carolina U.S. bankruptcy judge denied a dismissal bid by the asbestos claimants’ committee.
February 22, 2023
J&J Says 3rd Circuit Ruling Doesn’t Lift Stay Of UCL Asbestos Claims Appeal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision dissolving the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy does not lift a stay in the appeal of a federal lawsuit claiming that two companies violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws by withholding information about asbestos contamination of talc because the court has yet to issue a mandate and won’t until resolution of a rehearing petition, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI) tells the Ninth Circuit in a status report.
February 21, 2023
Georgia-Pacific Debtor Says LTL Management Ruling Moots Injunction Arguments

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should not consider arguments on appeal by Georgia-Pacific bankrupt unit Bestwall LLC regarding the issuance of an injunction protecting nondebtor affiliates from asbestos claims in the separate Chapter 11 case of a Johnson & Johnson spinoff because the Third Circuit’s recent rejection of that case means the injunction ruling is now invalid, asbestos claimants’ representatives tell the Fourth Circuit in a recent notice of supplemental authority.
February 21, 2023
New York Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Fiber Supplier Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Erie County jury returned a defense verdict for plastics company’s fiber supplier, sources told Mealey Publications.
February 17, 2023
Mediation Protocols Set For Asbestos Bankruptcies Of Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Units

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge approved the mediators and set the conditions for negotiations among debtors Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC, affiliates Ingersoll-Rand and Trane and representatives for asbestos personal injury claimants on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases and creation of an asbestos trust.