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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

July 25, 2024
South Carolina High Court Majority Says Insurer Not Prejudiced By Late Notice

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The majority of the South Carolina Supreme Court on July 24 affirmed an appellate court’s ruling in an asbestos coverage suit, agreeing with the lower court that the insurer was not prejudiced by its insured’s late notice of the underlying asbestos exposure lawsuit and that the insured’s untimely notice was not a breach of the contract.
July 24, 2024
Shipyard Defendant Can’t Raise Government Immunity In Asbestos Case, Judge Says

NEW ORLEANS — A bankruptcy moots a decision on summary judgment in one instance, but in granting summary judgment and precluding a shipyard from raising the government immunity defense, a federal judge said Louisiana federal courts routinely hold that the defendant is not entitled to the defense.
July 23, 2024
Libby, Mont., Resident Opposes Stay In Asbestos Trust Personal Injury Case

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Libby, Mont., resident who sued the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury trust in Montana federal court after having his claim denied says staying the action now means more delay for a claim already pending for almost two decades.
July 22, 2024
Parties To Asbestos-Talc Subpoena Appeal Debate Impact Of Expert Ruling

RICHMOND, Va. — Parties to a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving a ruling quashing a subpoena into the identifies of individuals who participated on a causation study recently filed letter briefs about the relevance of a ruling dismissing LTL Management LLC’s case against a different expert.
July 19, 2024
Judge Rejects Preemption, Strict Liability Arguments After $8M Asbestos Verdict

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Federal law preempting regulations on railway operations does not cover strict liability claims stemming from the accumulation of asbestos and asbestos-tainted vermiculite at a Libby, Mont., railway, a federal judge in Montana said in denying a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
July 19, 2024
California Anti-SLAPP Statute Dooms RICO Asbestos Action, Law Firm Defendants Say

CHICAGO — Common contacts in California means that state’s anti-SLAPP statute governs a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit filed in Illinois federal claiming that a law firm fabricated asbestos claims and because the action targets protected conduct, the entire suit must be dismissed, Simmons Hanley Conroy LLP say in a motion to strike.
July 19, 2024
Judge Delays Case Against Asbestos Trust Citing Pending Motion To Stay

MISSOULA, Mont. — The federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against the WRG Asbestos PI Trust said July 18 that in light of the trust’s pending motion to stay the case until resolution of a declaratory judgment action filed with the bankruptcy court, he would continue an upcoming pretrial conference.
July 19, 2024
Talc MDL Special Master Denies Litigation Funding Discovery Request

TRENTON, N.J. — Questions surrounding litigation funding in the asbestos-talc federal multidistrict litigation don’t go to the claims or defenses before the court, and ordering discovery simply because plaintiffs refuse to settle would open the floodgates to such requests, a federal special master said, quashing subpoenas.
July 18, 2024
J&J, Bankrupt Talc Miners Resolve Indemnification Dispute With $500M Settlement

WILMINGTON, Del. — Various Johnson & Johnson entities will pay more than $500 million to two bankrupt talc-mining companies, resolving questions surrounding indemnification for asbestos and other talc-related liabilities and paving the way for resolution of the bankruptcy plans, according to a joint motion for approval.
July 18, 2024
Former Nash Directors’ Motion To Dismiss Chapter 7 Trustee’s Breach Action Denied

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Rejecting arguments that some claims are time-barred because the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. failed to adequately plead his tolling theory of fraudulent concealment and has neither established the existence of a fiduciary relationship nor rebutted the business judgment rule, a federal judge in Connecticut denied three former Nash directors’ motion to dismiss the trustee’s breach of fiduciary duty suit against them.
July 17, 2024
Nash Chapter 7 Trustee’s Fraudulent Transfer Action Mostly Survives Dismissal

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Although dismissing two fraudulent transfer claims under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code as time-barred, a federal judge in Connecticut has allowed the remainder of the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co.’s adversary proceeding seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate to proceed.
July 15, 2024
Cosmetics Company Ben Nye Seeks Confirmation Of Reorganization Plan

LOS ANGELES — A cosmetics company founded by an Oscar-winning Hollywood movie studio makeup director that was forced into bankruptcy by asbestos talc claims seeks approval in California federal bankruptcy court of a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization that proposes paying $203,165 in disposable income to unsecured creditors, including asbestos claimants.
July 15, 2024
3rd Circuit Will Hear Appeals Of Talc Chapter 11 Case Dismissal Denial Together

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has consolidated appeals filed by asbestos claimants and the receiver for defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) of a New Jersey federal judge’s denial of the receiver’s bid to dismiss the company’s Chapter 11 case.
July 11, 2024
Bankrupt Cosmetics Company Agrees To Discovery Requests By Asbestos Claimants

LOS ANGELES — A California federal bankruptcy judge approved a stipulation under which Chapter 11 debtor Ben Nye Co. Inc. and the company’s financial advisers will produce documents about the debtor’s financial affairs, the use of talc in its products and other topics to five asbestos personal injury law firms and their clients.
July 11, 2024
Dallas Jury Awards $500,000 For Man’s Mesothelioma

DALLAS — A Texas judge entered judgment on a $500,000 asbestos verdict, finding that the plaintiffs are entitled to costs and various interest on the $325,000 in exemplary damages awarded by the jury.
July 09, 2024
Asbestos Lab Analyst’s Work With Longo Requires Deposition, Talc Company Says

ATLANTA — A lab analyst isn’t an “innocent bystander” but the person who actually peers into the microscope, makes observations about whether talc contains asbestos and collaborates closely with testifying witness William Longo in asbestos litigation, a talc company told a federal judge in Georgia in response to an objection to a magistrate judge’s ruling permitting the man’s deposition.
July 09, 2024
N.Y. Justice: Moline, Hospital Don’t Have To Disclose Asbestos Study Subjects

NEW YORK — Asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline and her employer obscured the names of individuals used on two of her studies on talc as required by law, and various Johnson & Johnson entities have not shown that they cannot challenge her opinions or adequately defend themselves absent the identity of those individuals, a New York justice said in granting a motion to quash and denying a motion to compel.
July 08, 2024
Judge: Plaintiffs Lack Standing To Block ‘Hypothetical’ J&J Asbestos Bankruptcy

TRENTON, N.J. — Class action plaintiffs told a federal judge in New Jersey that they would appeal his ruling denying a restraining order and finding that alleged injuries from a hypothetical future asbestos-talc bankruptcy and other potential conduct do not provide standing to enjoin the filing of such a case.
July 01, 2024
J&J Affiliate’s Fraud Claims Against Author Of Asbestos Talc Study Dismissed

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on June 28 granted a motion by the author of an asbestos talc study to dismiss a trade libel and fraud complaint filed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC after finding that the statements made by the author in an article in a medical journal about the presence of asbestos in J&J talcum powder are “scientific conclusions that are ‘more closely akin’ to nonactionable matters of opinion” rather than “actionable false representations of fact.”
June 28, 2024
Australia Jury Hands Record-Setting Verdict In Mesothelioma Case

BRISBANE, Australia — An Australia jury awarded a record-setting $2 million to a man suffering from mesothelioma from handling James Hardie & Coy Pty Limited asbestos-containing products, sources told Mealey Publications.
June 27, 2024
Judge Denies Directed Verdict On Negligence Claims Against Libby, Mont., Railway

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Libby, Mont., plaintiffs made a prima facie showing that a railway failed to exercise proper care in the handling of asbestos around its railyard, causing it to contaminate surrounding areas, a federal judge in Montana said June 26 in denying a directed verdict after an $8 million verdict.
June 26, 2024
2 Stipulated Dismissals Granted In Insurer’s Suit Over Asbestos Liabilities Row

OMAHA, Neb. — Two defendants referred to as reinsurers in a suit National Indemnity Co. (NICO) filed over a $157.2 million settlement it reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures have been dismissed with prejudice under a joint stipulation that a Nebraska federal judge granted June 24.
June 25, 2024
4th Circuit Briefing Extended For Georgia-Pacific Asbestos Debtor, Committee

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has given the parties in an appeal by the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants of a bankruptcy court’s denial of its bid to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC more time to file their appeal briefs after granting the committee’s request to certify a direct appeal.
June 25, 2024
Judge Says Removal Timely In Asbestos Coverage Suit Against Guaranty Association

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on June 24 denied a motion to remand filed by a man’s family members who sued numerous parties, including the Louisiana Guaranty Association (LIGA) as the purported statutory obligor for a now-insolvent insurer, alleging that the man’s death from mesothelioma resulted from his workplace asbestos exposure, finding that removal of the case to federal court was both permissible and timely.
June 21, 2024
Louisiana Court Affirms Jury’s $2.75M Asbestos Awards To Daughters

NEW ORLEANS — Recent Louisiana Supreme Court precedent requiring some objective measure when awarding surviving children damages does not alter the conclusion that trial evidence of the “devastating effects” two daughters experienced from their father’s death from mesothelioma supports a jury’s award of $2.75 million to each, a Louisiana appeals court said.