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

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

August 27, 2024
Georgia-Pacific Spinoff Not A Debtor, So Case Should Be Tossed, Committee Argues

RICHMOND, Va. — The Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because Bestwall, with billions of dollars available to it from its corporate parent, is not a true debtor under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants argues in its Aug. 26 opening appellant brief in a direct appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of denial of its motion to dismiss.
August 22, 2024
Talc Debtor Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Wins Summary Judgment On Successor Claims

TRENTON, N.J. — Because asbestos talc personal injury claims filed against the successors of Chapter 11 debtor Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) are property of the debtor’s estate and could trigger indemnification demands by the successors against the debtor, they are subject to the bankruptcy automatic stay, a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge ruled in granting WCD summary judgment on an adversary proceeding.
August 22, 2024
Judge Grants Dismissal Motions In Asbestos Suit Involving Guaranty Association

NEW ORLEANS — Having been advised that the parties engaged in settlement, a Louisiana federal judge granted six dismissal motions filed by the plaintiff jointly with separate defendants in an asbestos liability suit against a shipyard, related defendants, insurers and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) over a man’s exposure to asbestos resulting from his work at a shipyard.
August 21, 2024
Asbestos Plaintiffs Claim BNSF, Insurer Use ‘Float’ To Profit Off Asbestos Claims

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — BNSF Railway Co. and its insurer Zurich American Insurance Co., which were recently held liable for $8 million in asbestos-related damages by a jury, commodify asbestos claims and trade on “human suffering” by delaying payment and refusing to settle in an effort to profit off the “float” between the time when they receive claims and when they make payments, plaintiffs allege in a complaint in Montana federal court.
August 20, 2024
4th Circuit Stays Expert Subpoena Case Pending Asbestos Case’s Dismissal

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 19 stayed a case involving a subpoena seeking information from asbestos expert Theresa Emory’s employer pending a decision from another court on whether to grant with prejudice a plaintiff’s motion to voluntarily dismiss his action relying on the expert’s study case.
August 15, 2024
Avon Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Citing Liability For Asbestos Talc Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — The U.S. divisions of beauty product giant Avon have filed for bankruptcy protection due in part to asbestos talc lawsuits and received approval on Aug. 14 from a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge to obtain financing from their parent company to continue operating during the consolidated Chapter 11 case.
August 14, 2024
Parties Brief Need To Stay 4th Circuit Appeal Over Talc Study Subpoena

RICHMOND, Va. — Frequent asbestos defendant American International Industries (AII) and a medical provider it subpoenaed over an article on talc causation briefed the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether it should stay the appeal pending resolution a motion for voluntarily dismissal in the underlying tort case.
August 14, 2024
Revlon Bankruptcy Judge Enforces Bar Date Against Asbestos Talc Claimants

NEW YORK — Asbestos talc plaintiffs in 42 personal injury lawsuits naming Revlon as a defendant are barred from pursuing lawsuits against the cosmetics company by the discharge and injunction provisions of its confirmed Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, a New York federal bankruptcy judge held in granting the former debtor’s motion to enforce the plan injunction and confirmation order.
August 13, 2024
Special Master Sides With Plaintiffs In Spat Over Lab Employee Deposition

TRENTON, N.J. — Two orders made clear that an asbestos-testing lab employee was not being deposed as an expert but rather about firsthand knowledge that could potentially fill in the gaps of expert William Longo’s testimony, a special master in the federal asbestos multidistrict litigation said in denying a motion to compel and for sanctions.
August 12, 2024
Widow Says Vanderbilt Liable In Wake Of $15M Asbestos-Talc Verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A widow told a Connecticut judge in briefing on post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, to set aside the verdict and remittitur that a jury properly held R.T. Vanderbilt Holding Co. Inc. liable for her husband’s fatal asbestos-talc exposures, that the court already addressed and rejected its liability arguments and that the $15 million award stands up to comparison alongside verdicts involving similar facts.
August 12, 2024
Judge Overseeing AII Talc Case Grants Briefing In Wake Of Dismissal Motion

NEW YORK — Briefing on any issues remaining after a 42-year-old man with mesothelioma moved to dismiss his claims so he can enjoy his remaining life will proceed on defendant American International Industries’ (AII) schedule, a federal judge in New York said in turning away arguments that there were no more issues in the case and that the request for briefing was just one in a long effort at delay.
August 09, 2024
Nash Chapter 7 Trustee Clarifies Fraudulent Transfer Claim At Judge’s Request

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. has clarified his claim under the Connecticut Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (CUFTA) in his adversary proceeding seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate, as requested by a Connecticut federal judge in a ruling on the holding company’s bid to dismiss the trustee’s fraudulent transfer suit.
August 07, 2024
Judge Expands Briefing Opposing Efforts To Strike, Dismiss Asbestos RICO Case

CHICAGO — Asbestos defendant J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. received a little extra room for arguments opposing a law firm’s motions contending the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case targets protected litigation conduct after a federal judge in Illinois granted an unopposed motion for additional pages and clarified the briefing schedule.
August 07, 2024
AII Seeks Time For Talc Case Dismissal Briefing; Man Says Move Is Unneeded Delay

NEW YORK — On the same day American International Industries (AII) asked for an extended briefing timeline on a motion by a 42-year-old man with mesothelioma to dismiss his claims so he can enjoy his remaining life, the man told a New York federal court that the company is refusing to take its win and instead continuing in its practice of unnecessarily extending the litigation. The letter briefs were filed Aug. 6.
August 06, 2024
Claims Against Defendant Insurer Alleged Owed $28.9M Are Dismissed By Stipulation

OMAHA, Neb. — Claims against one of what had been four remaining defendants 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.
August 05, 2024
Judge Stays Libby, Mont., Asbestos Trust Suit Pending Bankruptcy Court Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge overseeing a pair of asbestos exposure suits brought by Libby, Mont., residents granted a motion to stay their cases against the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury trust Aug. 2 so that the bankruptcy court can determine whether the claims are viable.
August 05, 2024
Magistrate Judge Rejects Immunity, Contractor Defense In Helicopter Asbestos Case

WILMINGTON, Del. — Two helicopter defendants saw different results in an asbestos case, with a magistrate judge on Aug. 2 recommending that one be dismissed but leaving claims against the second, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., after criticizing its filing but concluding that a widow’s case against it survives because the evidence suggests that it knew that its aircraft contained asbestos and that the federal contractor defense and derivative sovereign immunity would not bar the claims.
August 02, 2024
Employer, Amicus Urge Kentucky High Court To Reject Take-Home Asbestos Liability

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An electric products company told the Kentucky Supreme Court that it owed no duty a woman allegedly exposed to asbestos on her father’s work clothing because such an injury was not foreseeable and that the woman’s own employment with the company precludes a tort action under the state’s workers’ compensation law. In an amicus brief, various business interests argued that there are sound public policy and scientific grounds to rejecting take-home asbestos liability.
August 01, 2024
Mesothelioma Sufferer Asks Court To Dismiss Lone Remaining Talc Defendant

NEW YORK — A 42-year-old man suffering from mesothelioma that he believes resulted from asbestos in talc applied to him as a child asked a New York federal judge on July 31 to dismiss with prejudice a contentious action involving the lone remaining defendant, American International Industries (AII), so he can enjoy his remaining years free from its “improper and harassing discovery.”
August 01, 2024
Take-Home Duty At Heart Of Briefing In Appeal Of $9.7M Asbestos Verdict

MILWAUKEE — Parties wrapped up briefing on the propriety of a $9.7 million asbestos verdict, with a premises owner telling a Wisconsin appeals court that the state doesn’t recognize take-home exposure claims and warning about the burden such liability could impose while the plaintiff argues that nothing prevented the trial court from allowing liability for taking no action to prevent known or knowable dangers.
July 30, 2024
Illinois Jury Awards $24.46M In Asbestos Damages To Talc-Facility Janitor, Wife

CHICAGO — An Illinois jury hit Avon Products Inc. with a $24.46 million asbestos verdict, including $1 million in punitive damages, after finding the company responsible for a former janitor’s exposure to asbestos present at a talc-processing facility, sources told Mealey’s Publications.
July 30, 2024
Boiler Company Can’t Escape Asbestos Verdict, Punitives, New York Justice Says

NEW YORK — Evidence of a man’s suffering and how it impacted his life and a company’s handling of asbestos support a jury’s $38 million award that included $6.5 million in punitive damages, a New York justice said in affirming the verdict and denying a boiler maker a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
July 29, 2024
Creditors Seek Dismissal Of Barretts Minerals And Affiliate’s Chapter 11 Cases

HOUSTON — The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the jointly administered Chapter 11 cases of Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI) and an affiliate have moved to dismiss the cases, arguing that following the sale of their talc business, they “no longer have a business to rehabilitate” and “no longer hold any assets with value to maximize in these cases.”
July 26, 2024
3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of LTL Management’s 2nd Chapter 11 Case

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 25 nonprecedential opinion affirmed a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court’s dismissal of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC’s second attempt to reorganize through bankruptcy, rejecting the debtor’s argument that its second Chapter 11 case is valid because it proved that its financial resources will probably be wiped out by asbestos lawsuits.
July 26, 2024
Trustee Rejects Claim That Judge-Lawyer Relationship Didn’t Require Disclosure

HOUSTON — In a battle over fees awarded to a law firm in the Honx Inc. asbestos bankruptcy case, the trustee told the court that a relationship between one of the firm’s partners and a bankruptcy judge in the same district at the very least gives the appearance of partiality and the argument that the firm didn’t need to disclose the relationship is “astonishing.”