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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

December 13, 2023
In Tentative Ruling, Judge Denies Sanctions After Asbestos Defense Verdict

LOS ANGELES — In the wake of a jury finding Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. and Foster Wheeler LLC not negligent in a maritime asbestos case, a federal judge in California issued a tentative ruling on Dec. 12 preliminarily finding no sanctionable conduct on the part of a trio of attorneys, one accused of stalling in seeking a trial continuance, one accused of misrepresenting whether a client countered a settlement offer and one accused of causing confusion over whether an expert could testify live.
December 13, 2023
Federal Jury In Massachusetts Finds For Asbestos Boiler Company

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts entered judgment in an asbestos case after the jury found that the plaintiff had not shown that the defendant breached the implied warranty of merchantability by selling boilers without adequate warnings or that it was negligent for not providing such warnings in a case in which the judge found that maritime law permitted loss of consortium, punitive and survival damages.
December 07, 2023
COMMENTARY: Fire & Rain: 2023 Key Decisions & Developments Impacting The Wide World Of Insurance

By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
December 08, 2023
Kaiser Gypsum Asbestos Insurer Seeks Supreme Court Reversal Of Ruling On Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. does not have standing to challenge the debtors’ reorganization plan because the plan is insurance neutral is wrong and should be reversed, the insurer tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Dec. 7 brief on the merits.
December 07, 2023
J&J: Former Attorney Improperly Working With Talc MDL Lawyer, Firm

TRENTON, N.J. — One of the attorneys responsible for crafting talc-related liability strategies for defendant companies flipped and formed an alliance with counsel for plaintiffs, Johnson & Johnson and spinoff LTL Management LLC say in a motion filed in federal multidistrict litigation in New Jersey seeking disqualification of a plaintiffs’ attorney and his firm or their removal from the steering committee.
December 07, 2023
Official Committee Wants Barretts Minerals’ Chapter 11 Case Moved To Montana

HOUSTON — The Chapter 11 case of talc mining company Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) should be moved from Texas to Montana because most of its assets are in the latter, and an affiliate’s bankruptcy case is invalid because it has no creditors or any debt, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors says in a supplemental brief in Texas federal bankruptcy court.
December 06, 2023
Future Claimants’ Representative Named For Talc Company’s Bankruptcy Case

HOUSTON — The Texas federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the new Chapter 11 case of talc mining company Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) appointed a Dallas attorney as the future claimants’ representative (FCR) for asbestos talc personal injury claimants.
November 30, 2023
Montana Asbestos Screener Says No Evidence It Intended To Defraud ACA Program

MISSOULA, Mont. — Claims submitted under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) program for Libby, Mont., asbestos-disease sufferers complied with federal law and guidance and the jury was able to conclude otherwise only because the judge ignored the statutory language, imposed a heightened standard and rejected evidence indicating that the medical company believed its claims to be legitimate, the provider tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Nov. 29 opening brief.
November 29, 2023
Hawaii Asbestos Trial Ends In Verdict For 3M After Genetics Evidence Excluded

HONOLULU — 3M Co. negligently designed its respirator, rendering the device defective, but neither flaw caused a man’s mesothelioma and the man’s injury arose from superseding cause, a jury in Hawaii said in finding for the defendant.
November 29, 2023
J&J, Plaintiff Awarded $18.8M Settle In Wake Of Denial Of Post-Trial Motions

LOS ANGELES — After Johnson & Johnson (J&J) filed a notice indicating that it would appeal denial of post-trial motions rejecting its claim that it could not be liable for an $18.8 million asbestos-talc verdict, the plaintiff told a federal judge in California that the parties reached a settlement completely resolving the case.
November 29, 2023
Judge Won’t Strike Expert Opinion Challenged As ‘Every Exposure’ Theory

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An expert’s testimony tracks with the science involving asbestos-related diseases and does not veer into “every exposure” or specific causation testimony, a federal judge said Nov. 28 in admitting three witnesses in a fourth ruling denying motions to strike various expert opinions in a case involving Libby, Mont., exposures.
November 22, 2023
Appeal Sought For Denial Of Dismissal Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor’s Bankruptcy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two asbestos claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC filed a motion for a direct appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge’s denial of their motion to dismiss the case.
November 22, 2023
Bestwall Asbestos Committee Cannot Appeal Denial Of Dismissal Bid, Judge Rules

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge has denied a request by an asbestos claimants’ committee to appeal the denial of its motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific LLC spinoff Bestwall LLC, saying the denial order is not a final order and an interlocutory appeal is not proper.
November 21, 2023
3rd Circuit Will Again Rule On Dismissal Of LTL Management Bankruptcy

TRENTON, N.J. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will decide if the second Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC should be dismissed like its first case for lack of financial distress, with the debtor asking the appeals court in a case summary to rule on whether a bankruptcy judge “misapplied the law and made clearly erroneous findings of fact” when dismissing the second case.
November 21, 2023
Garrett Motion Defends Disclosure Of Financial Struggles After Spinoff

NEW YORK — The financial difficulties a newly independent company faced after being left holding millions of dollars in asbestos liabilities was clearly communicated, and nothing required explicit revelation of the company’s exploration of bankruptcy as a possible remedy, Honeywell International Inc. spinoff Garrett Motion Inc. argues in an appellee brief to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
November 20, 2023
Dismissal Of Talc Supplier’s Chapter 11 Case Debated In Federal Court Appeal

TRENTON, N.J. — A South Carolina judge’s order appointing a receiver for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) “provided that only the Receiver had the power to file a bankruptcy petition for WCD,” so a Chapter 11 petition filed by the company’s board in New Jersey federal bankruptcy court should be dismissed, the receiver and a committee of asbestos claimants say in a reply brief on appeal to a federal district court.
November 17, 2023
Pipe Maker Awarded $8.8M Asbestos Verdict Disputes Tainted Jury Narrative

LOS ANGELES — The fact that the jury unanimously voted against imposing punitive damages demonstrates that there was no “serious . . . misconduct” tainting jurors who eventually awarded a nearly $9 million asbestos verdict, a couple argues in California trial court briefs opposing motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
November 16, 2023
Mediator Appointed To Resolve Former Talc Supplier’s Bankruptcy Issues

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge on Nov. 15 appointed a retired bankruptcy judge to mediate asbestos and talc personal injury claims, environmental claims, successor liability or alter ego claims and insurance coverage disputes in an adversary proceeding filed in the Chapter 11 case of defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD).
November 16, 2023
Judge Admits Pair Of Experts, Grants Asbestos Plaintiffs Limited Surrebuttal

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An asbestos expert for two plaintiffs didn’t simply sign off on a counsel-authored report but provided adequate input of his own, and while challenged portions of a defense expert’s report largely constitute rebuttal, to the extent that they do not the plaintiffs may file a surrebuttal, a federal judge in a Libby, Mont., asbestos exposure case said Nov. 15 in denying motions to strike.
November 16, 2023
J&J Entities Urge Application Of Texas Law, Striking Of Talc Allegations

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A motion to strike allegations of asbestos exposure against a trio of Johnson & Johnson entities asks a Connecticut state court to address the narrow issue of whether Texas law applies and precludes finding that any one of them inherited talc-related liabilities, the companies argue in a reply brief.
November 16, 2023
Los Angeles Targets J&J’s Advertising Of Asbestos-Tainted Talc Products

LOS ANGELES — Johnson & Johnson and related entities marketed talc-based baby powder and Shower to Shower products to mothers and minorities despite knowing about the presence of asbestos, heavy metals and other contaminants that could not be removed, their link to ovarian cancer and the existence of potential alternatives without those risks, Los Angeles says in state court complaint alleging false advertising and unfair competition in violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL) and public nuisance.
November 15, 2023
Former Talc Supplier Allowed More Time To File Chapter 11 Plan

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge has given defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) more time to file a plan of reorganization in its Chapter 11 case after the debtor said it hopes mediation will lead to a plan that is supported by all asbestos claimants.
November 14, 2023
Law Firm: New York Conduct Didn’t Warrant Sanction In Asbestos Fee Dispute

RICHMOND, Va. — The “obvious linkage” standard a federal judge in Maryland applied for conduct in a separate case filed in a separate court gives courts expansive power to sanction, a law firm embroiled in a dispute over fees involving asbestos bankruptcy trust cases tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Nov. 13 brief.
November 09, 2023
Judge Allows Untimely Asbestos Expert Reports But Reopens Depositions

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Clerical oversight appears to be behind the failure to timely produce expert opinions in a long-running asbestos action, and what little prejudice could result from admitting two untimely reports can be cured by allowing the plaintiffs to re-depose their own experts, a federal judge in Montana said Nov. 8 in denying the plaintiffs’ motion to strike the two reports.
November 07, 2023
Judge Excludes Expert; Parties Weigh Moves After LTL Bankruptcy Stay Ends

RALEIGH, N.C. — Parties to an asbestos talc-related mesothelioma case told a federal judge in North Carolina that recent developments lifted the stay imposed by the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy and that the parties were working toward an agreement that would permit the filing of an amended complaint naming the company. The status report came in response to a ruling seeking information on the stay and granting a defendant’s motion to exclude experts and for summary judgment.