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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

September 07, 2022
Epidemiologist’s Data Stays With Debtor For Estimation Proceeding, Judge Rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An epidemiologist cannot “claw back” a data file he produced for Chapter 11 debtor Bestwall LLC to use in its asbestos liability bankruptcy proceeding because he failed to show that the file is privileged or protected against disclosure, a California federal judge held Sept. 6 in a miscellaneous case filed by Bestwall.
September 06, 2022
California Federal Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Foster Wheeler Asbestos Case

SAN DIEGO — A federal jury in California on Aug. 26 found for a defendant in an asbestos case, finding Foster Wheeler LLC not negligent, that its product performed as an ordinary consumer would expect and that while its product required the use of an integrated part, the company had no reason to know its use would be hazardous.
August 31, 2022
1 Venue Ruling Issued In Cases Over Reinsurers’ Asbestos Coverage Liabilities

As venue disputes play out in several lawsuits in various federal jurisdictions between insurer National Indemnity Co. (NICO) and reinsurers over NICO’s $157.2 million settlement with the state of Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures, NICO filed an Aug. 26 answer and counterclaim after a New York federal judge on Aug. 16 issued an order denying its motion to dismiss that complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction or transfer the suit.
August 31, 2022
Imerys Bankruptcy Judge Permits Pursuit Of J&J Asbestos-Talc Fraud Class

WILMINGTON, Del. — The federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Imerys Talc America Inc. told plaintiffs at an Aug. 29 hearing that the case’s stay does not apply to a class action claiming that Johnson & Johnson withheld evidence of asbestos in its talc. The plaintiffs submitted a letter and proposed order on Aug. 30 in compliance with the judge’s on-the-record ruling.
August 25, 2022
3rd Circuit Reverses, Says Judge Improperly Quashed Asbestos Trust Subpoenas

PHILADELPHIA — Ten asbestos trusts cannot challenge a bankruptcy court’s decision to allow Chapter 11 debtor Bestwall LLC to serve subpoenas on them seeking claimant information to estimate the debtor’s asbestos liability because the trusts’ claims processing center already litigated the dispute in the bankruptcy court, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 24 in reversing and remanding to enforce the subpoenas based on the doctrine of collateral estoppel.
August 24, 2022
Bankruptcy Judge Maps Procedures To Assess CertainTeed Debtor’s Meso Liability

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge on Aug. 19 issued an order establishing case management procedures for a proceeding to estimate the liability of CertainTeed LLC affiliate and Chapter 11 debtor DBMP LLC for mesothelioma claims.
August 24, 2022
Settlement Talks Under Way In Insurance Coverage Row From W.R. Grace Case

WILMINGTON, Del. — In a long-running dispute now on remand from the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asbestos claimants from the Chapter 11 case of former debtor W.R. Grace & Co. and two of its insurers told a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on Aug. 9 that they have begun a “dedicated settlement process” to resolve the claimants’ allegations against the insurers over their asbestos liability.
August 23, 2022
Injunction Protecting Georgia-Pacific Is Wrong, Asbestos Claimants Say

RICHMOND, Va. — Lacking bankruptcy court jurisdiction from a corporate restructuring to receive an injunction blocking asbestos tort claims, multibillion dollar retailer Georgia-Pacific “set out in advance to manipulate the facts and law” by creating Bestwall LLC, saddling it with all asbestos liabilities and putting it into bankruptcy using “improperly designed and misleading agreements” between the companies to obtain the injunctive relief it sought, asbestos claimants’ representatives say in a July 22 reply brief for their appeal of the injunction in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
August 22, 2022
Future Claimants’ Rep Backs Call For Mediation For Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Units

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The future claimants’ representative (FCR) in the joint Chapter 11 case of Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC agrees that, for the benefit of asbestos disease sufferers, mediation among the debtors, affiliates Ingersoll-Rand and Trane, asbestos claimants and insurers is the best and quickest path to getting a plan of reorganization and an asbestos trust approved, the FCR says in a July 29 brief supporting the U.S. bankruptcy administrator’s motion to compel mediation.
August 18, 2022
J&J Unit Fends Off Appeals In Claimants’ Bid To Have Chapter 11 Case Tossed

PHILADELPHIA — Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC filed its Chapter 11 case in good faith to resolve asbestos-talc personal injury claims, and the claimants make sensational yet invalid arguments on appeal seeking reversal of a bankruptcy court’s denial of their bid to dismiss the case, the debtor says in an Aug. 15 appellee brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
August 18, 2022
Enjoining Securities Claims To Protect J&J Debtor’s Case Was Wrong, Investor Says

TRENTON, N.J. — A bankruptcy court erred in enjoining a securities class action filed by a retirement association against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its officers based on the possibility “that facts ‘might’ develop in the Securities Action that could ‘taint the record’ of” the Chapter 11 case of J&J spinoff LTL Management LLC, the association argues in a July 14 opening brief on appeal to a New Jersey federal court.
August 12, 2022
J&J To Discontinue Sales Of Talc-Based Baby Powder Worldwide In 2023

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson will discontinue talc-based baby powder worldwide in 2023 and transition to cornstarch-based powder, the company announced in an Aug. 11 press release.
August 12, 2022
Bestwall Asbestos Claimants Relieved Of Daily Sanctions For Discovery Violations

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge on Aug. 8 lifted $100-per-day discovery sanctions for contempt she had imposed against hundreds of asbestos personal injury claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC for not providing complete information to the debtor in a discovery questionnaire, citing “substantial compliance” with the questionnaire requirements since the sanctions began.
August 09, 2022
Hess And Debtor Unit HONX Agree To Mediation To Resolve Asbestos Claims

HOUSTON — A Texas chief bankruptcy judge and famed mediation attorney Kenneth Feinberg will oversee negotiations among Hess Corp., its bankrupt affiliate HONX Inc. and representatives for asbestos disease claimants on a consensual resolution to the Chapter 11 case with the establishment of an asbestos trust, according to a stipulation approved July 18 by a Texas federal bankruptcy judge.
August 08, 2022
Court OKs Enhanced Award, Bankruptcy Trust Exclusions, Affirms Asbestos Verdict

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A man sufficiently established mesothelioma causation and that asbestos in a defendant’s dryer felts was a substantial factor in the disease, and the trial court did not err in increasing the survival damages award or by declining to reallocate settlements or excluding bankruptcy trust forms, a South Carolina appeals court said Aug. 3.
August 08, 2022
4th Circuit Affirms Verdict In Dispute Over Asbestos Trust Referral Fees

BALTIMORE — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 4 rejected the nearly two dozen challenges to a more than $3 million verdict based on discovery violations and unpaid asbestos trust referral fees in a dispute involving 15 law firm entities, upending only the award of post-judgment interest so that on remand the court could rely on federal law rather than Maryland law in calculating the award.
August 08, 2022
Federal Judge Reinstates Dismissed Chapter 7 Case Of Asbestos Debtor Nash

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge on Aug. 5 vacated a bankruptcy court’s dismissal of asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co.’s Chapter 7 case after finding no bad faith on the part of the debtor or the Chapter 7 trustee in their quest to marshal insurance assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.
August 08, 2022
Judge: Household Services Damages OK; Asbestos Intentional Tort Claims Fail

NEW ORLEANS — An injured party may seek damages for activities an injury prevents, but the intentional tort claim requires evidence that the defendants knew that mesothelioma was substantially likely to occur as a result of asbestos exposure, a standard the plaintiffs cannot meet, a federal judge in Louisiana said July 25 in denying one motion and granting another.'
August 02, 2022
Missouri Judge Denies Post-Trial Motions, Leaving $20M Asbestos Verdict

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on July 29 denied Ford Motor Co.’s trio of post-trial motions seeking remittitur, judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, leaving in place a $20 million asbestos verdict awarded to a former part-time mechanic and his wife, according to the case docket. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
August 02, 2022
Insurers Escape Strict Liability, Not Negligence Take-Home Asbestos Claims

NEW ORLEANS — An employer can be liable for a man’s take-home asbestos exposures under Louisiana negligence law, but there is insufficient evidence that the employer represented that the products it used were its own and, thus, it escapes strict liability, a federal judge in Louisiana said July 28 in partially granting insurers’ motion for summary judgment.
July 28, 2022
Judge Hears Arguments Over Whether Imerys Stay Blocks Fraud Class Against J&J

WILMINGTON, Del. — During a July 20 hearing, the judge overseeing the Imerys Talc America Inc. bankruptcy proceedings heard arguments on whether the case’s automatic stay encompasses a class action alleging that Johnson & Johnson withheld and destroyed evidence of asbestos contamination in its talc. A judge in the fraud case on July 12 stayed any response to the complaint pending the bankruptcy court’s decision.
July 27, 2022
4th Circuit Delays Dismissal Bid To Consider Insurer’s Plan Confirmation Appeal

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 26 said it will hold off on considering a motion by Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. to dismiss an appeal by their primary asbestos insurer of the confirmation of the debtors’ plan of reorganization “pending review of the appeal on the merits.”
July 27, 2022
Federal Judge Issues Latest Dismissal Order In Asbestos Liability Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on July 22 issued an order granting a joint motion to dismiss Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., an alleged insurer of a defendant in an asbestos liability suit and the latest party to be dismissed after the stay of insolvency of another insurer was lifted.
July 27, 2022
Imerys Talc, Cyprus Mines Mediation On Global Resolution Extended

WILMINGTON, Del. — Mediation with asbestos insurers on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases of talc mining company Cyprus Mines Corp. and affiliate talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. will continue through at least Sept. 30, according to a stipulation by the parties approved July 13 by a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge.
July 26, 2022
Bankruptcy Administrator Calls For Mediation For Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Units

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. bankruptcy administrator for the Western District of North Carolina asked the bankruptcy court on July 7 to order the debtors, their Ingersoll-Rand and Trane affiliates, and asbestos claimants in the consolidated Chapter 11 case of Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC to participate in mandatory mediation to reach “a comprehensive resolution of the Debtors’ liability to present and future asbestos claimants.”