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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

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.
June 21, 2024
Jackson Walker Says Trustee’s Request To Return Fees Not Supported By Law

HOUSTON — The U.S. trustee’s bid to have a Texas law firm return more than $400,000 in fees it was awarded for work on mediation in the asbestos bankruptcy case of Hess Corp. affiliate HONX Inc. due to a romantic relationship between one of its attorneys and the bankruptcy judge who acted as mediator should be rejected because it “it inequitably and improperly targets” the law firm, which did nothing wrong, the firm says in a response brief in a federal bankruptcy court.
June 20, 2024
J&J Says Talc Plaintiffs Lack Power, Precedent To Block Bankruptcy

TRENTON, N.J. —Talc plaintiffs waited too long to raise meritless claims of allegedly fraudulent corporate restructurings and lack the power to ask a district court to prevent a bankruptcy filing, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and related entities tell a federal court in New Jersey in opposing injunctive relief.
June 19, 2024
California High Court Reverses, Says Vertical Exhaustion Applies To Policies

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court reversed an appeals court’s ruling in a long-running asbestos insurance coverage dispute after determining that a vertical exhaustion method, rather than a horizontal exhaustion method, must be applied to excess policies that sit over an insured’s primary policies because the language of the excess policies and the insured’s reasonable expectations support a vertical exhaustion method.
June 18, 2024
In Latest Suit, Women Seek Medical Monitoring Over Johnson & Johnson Talc

TRENTON, N.J. — Women filed a putative class action in a New Jersey federal court against various Johnson & Johnson (J&J) entities on June 17 alleging fraud and misrepresentation among other claims and seeking medical monitoring for all women who used talc-based products on their genital area over a four-year period starting in 1960 and have not yet filed suit against the companies.
June 18, 2024
J&J Seeks Delay In Judgment, $1.95M In Monthly Interest In Asbestos-Talc Case

PORTLAND, Ore. — Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and a subsidiary told a judge in Oregon that its posttrial motions in the wake of a $260 million asbestos-talc jury verdict will bring to light the “persistent misconduct” that led to the verdict and asked for a stay of the judgment and resulting $1.95 million per month in interest while the court resolves the motions. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
June 14, 2024
J&J Can Depose Asbestos Expert Longo’s Employee, Special Master Says

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson entities may depose the lab employee who performed the testing on which expert William Longo relies, the special master in New Jersey involved in the federal multidistrict litigation involving asbestos-talc claims said.
June 13, 2024
Talc Plaintiffs Seek To Confine Proposed J&J Bankruptcy To New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey in a June 12 docket entry expedited briefing on talc plaintiffs’ motion seeking to enjoin Johnson & Johnson or its subsidiaries from declaring bankruptcy anywhere other than New Jersey. The plaintiffs in the case claim that Johnson & Johnson performed a series of fraudulent transfers and bad faith bankruptcy filings to escape asbestos-talc liabilities.
June 12, 2024
States, J&J Settle Talc Marketing Claims For $700 Million

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson on June 11 agreed to pay $700 million to resolve investigations by 42 states and the District of Columbia into its marketing of baby powder and related talc products, various sources told Mealey Publications.
June 06, 2024
Supreme Court Reverses, Says Asbestos Debtor’s Insurer Can Challenge Reorganization

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Because the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. is on the hook for most of the debtors’ asbestos liabilities under their reorganization plan, it is a party in interest that has standing to object to the plan, the U.S. Supreme Court held June 6 in a unanimous decision.
June 05, 2024
Judge Upholds Denial Of Bid To Dismiss Talc Supplier’s Chapter 11 Case

TRENTON, N.J. — A bankruptcy court correctly declined to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of defunct talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) because the company’s board and not its receiver was authorized to place WCD into bankruptcy, a New Jersey federal judge ruled in affirming rejection of the receiver and asbestos claimants’ bid to dismiss the case and dismissing their appeal.
June 05, 2024
Railway, Plaintiffs Brief Viability Of $8M Verdict In Libby, Mont., Case

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Whether federal law preempts strict liability claims against a railway and whether its failure to remediate asbestos contamination at its Libby, Mont., railyard constitutes an affirmative act or inactivity not subject to strict liability came before a Montana federal judge in briefing on judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
June 03, 2024
Asbestos Law Firms Seek Discovery In Subchapter V Bankruptcy Of Cosmetics Company

LOS ANGELES — Five asbestos personal injury law firms and their clients want representatives for new Chapter 11 debtor Ben Nye Co. Inc. and the company’s financial advisers to submit to an examination under oath and present documents about the debtor’s financial affairs, the use of talc in its products and other topics, according to a motion the firms filed in California federal bankruptcy court.
May 30, 2024
Judge Awards $1.4M In Fees In Libby, Mont., Asbestos Claims Fraud Case

MISSOULA, Mont. — A railway that obtained some of the relief it sought in a suit claiming that an asbestos-disease scanner in Libby, Mont., submitted false claims under a special program involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) may recover attorney fees, but the award must be reduced by 25% because its submission never ties the hours worked and associated rates to specific tasks, a federal judge in Montana said in awarding $1,423,936.58.
May 29, 2024
California Jury Finds For Automotive Parts Defendant In Asbestos Case

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A jury in California returned a defense verdict for an automotive parts distributor in an asbestos friction case, finding that the company did not act negligently and that while the brakes and clutches in question failed to perform as an ordinary consumer would expect, they were not a substantial factor in the man’s mesothelioma.
May 28, 2024
Navy Asbestos Case Nets Defense Verdict In Massachusetts Federal Court

BOSTON — A federal jury in Massachusetts hearing a U.S. Navy asbestos exposure case returned a defense verdict for John Crane Inc., finding that the plaintiff failed to show that the company substantially caused injury to the decedent through negligent design or failure to adequately warn.
May 24, 2024
Magistrate Judge Denies J&J’s Effort At Expedited Response To Subpoena To Law Firm

TRENTON, N.J. — In a docket text order, a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey denied a request by Johnson & Johnson and its bankrupt affiliate to expedite a response to a subpoena they issued to the Beasley Allen Law Firm in the asbestos talc multidistrict litigation seeking evidence of “egregious behavior” suggesting that the firm no longer advocates in the best interests of asbestos plaintiffs.
May 23, 2024
4th Circuit Rejects Rehearing In Asbestos Claimants’ Bids For Direct Appeal

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied rehearing of a panel’s rejection of direct appeals by asbestos claimants seeking review of the denial of their bids to dismiss the joint Chapter 11 case of Ingersoll-Rand and Trane spinoffs Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC.
May 23, 2024
Cancer Sufferers Say J&J, LTL Divisive Merger, Transfers Were Fraudulent

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson and its various subsidiaries hoped to avoid liability or delay a day of reckoning through a divisive merger under Texas law and a series of fraudulent transfers of assets and liabilities, women who allegedly contracted ovarian cancer or mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos in the company’s talc claim in a May 22 putative class action.