Mealey's Asbestos
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September 20, 2024
Federal Talc MDL Judge Won’t Permit Consolidated Bellwether Trial
TRENTON, N.J. — The first bellwether trials in the Johnson & Johnson federal multidistrict litigation will involve single cases, the federal judge overseeing the litigation said in denying a letter brief identifying two cases for consolidated trial.
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September 19, 2024
Washington Court Affirms $5.75M Asbestos Verdict Against Volkswagen
SEATTLE — A Washington court had jurisdiction over a German automobile manufacturer based on its import deal with a U.S. subsidiary, there was sufficient evidence linking those two companies to a man’s mesothelioma and a trial judge did not err in instructing the jury on causation, a state appellate court said in an unpublished opinion affirming a $5.75 million asbestos verdict.
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September 19, 2024
Premises Duty, Experts At Heart Of Florida Appeal Of Asbestos Defense Verdict
MIAMI — A woman tells a Florida appellate court that she was wrongly denied a new trial after a jury returned a verdict in favor of an asbestos premises defendant despite uncontradicted evidence of its liability. But Florida Light & Power Co. argues that the fact that it issued some warnings does not impose a duty on it to warn everyone of everything and that the jury was free to reject the opinions of the woman’s specific causation expert.
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September 19, 2024
Pa. Court Rejects Expert, Causation Challenges After $3.3M Asbestos Verdict
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate court found no fault with a trial judge’s conclusion about expert testimony on causation and duty or in allowing an asbestos suit against an employer that ended in a bench trial and more than $3.3 million verdict, but said that the trial judge erred in reducing delay damages for various issues in the case, including a prolonged stay that corresponded with the coronavirus pandemic.
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September 18, 2024
No Coverage Afforded For Asbestos Suits Under Exposure Trigger Theory, Insurers Say
FORT WORTH, Texas — Two insurers maintain in reply briefs filed in Texas federal court that summary judgment in their favor in an asbestos coverage suit is warranted because coverage under their policies is barred under an exposure trigger of coverage theory, which they say applies pursuant to a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision on the trigger of coverage issue.
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September 18, 2024
AII Calls Dismissal Motion A ‘Bad Faith’ Effort To Avoid Talc Discovery
NEW YORK — An asbestos plaintiff’s motion to dismiss his case is not an attempt to avoid the rigors of litigation but is a “bad faith” effort at avoiding discovery into expert studies behind talc litigation, American International Industries (AII) argues in urging a federal judge in New York to deny his motion and permit limited discovery into the experts that would otherwise be unavailable.
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September 17, 2024
Jury Awards $39M In Talc Pleurodesis Mesothelioma Case
WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts jury awarded $39,081,142 to a couple for a man’s mesothelioma arising from exposure to talc used during a medical procedure, sources told Mealey Publications.
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September 17, 2024
Talc Defendant Claims ‘Egregious Misconduct’ In New Jersey Asbestos Case
LOS ANGELES — Asbestos firm Simmons Hanley Conroy committed “egregious misconduct” by communicating with and obtaining a statement from a corporate representative without the knowledge of the defendant or counsel, talc defendant American International Industries (AII) alleges in asking a California judge for a protective order and to quash the New Jersey state court deposition.
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September 16, 2024
Employer, Son Brief Whether Organ Cancers Are Loss, Or Loss Of Use
WILMINGTON, Del. — A son of man who suffered cancer, including mesothelioma, throughout organs in his body and the man’s former employer wrapped up briefing in an appeal over interpreting expert testimony and whether the man’s injury constituted loss of a body part or merely the loss of its use in an appeal of a Delaware workers’ compensation case.
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September 16, 2024
Vanderbilt Stuck In California For Suit Alleging Son’s Asbestos Exposure
OAKLAND, Calif. — A couple adequately alleges that their son was exposed to asbestos in talc incorporated in joint compound and related products with connections to California, giving the state jurisdiction over the talc company, a judge in the state said in denying a motion to quash service of summons.
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September 16, 2024
LLT Management Gets Hearing Delayed Pending Cert Petition Over Case Dismissal
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge granted a request from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LLT Management LLC to delay a hearing on closing its Chapter 11 case until after the time to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to review dismissal of the case has passed.
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September 13, 2024
Avondale Ordered To Produce Family Employment Records, Opposes Expedited Trial
NEW ORLEANS — Days after a judge ordered a shipyard to produce employment records of the cousins of a woman allegedly exposed to asbestos on their work clothing, the shipyard opposed expedited trial, noting that the exposed individual is dead and that the case was still in its infancy.
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September 12, 2024
New Disclosures Explain J&J Stock Drop, Not Coincidence, Securities Class Says
PHILADELPHIA — Even entertaining Johnson & Johnson’s incorrect claim that any corrective disclosures in a case must be of “pristine newness,” a trial judge properly certified a class after concluding Johnson & Johnson entities never fully explained away a multi-billion-dollar drop in stock price, a securities class told the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an answering brief.
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September 11, 2024
Delaware Judge Finds Asbestos Trust Timing Rules Apply, Bar Tort Claim
WILMINGTON, Del. — Because a woman filed her asbestos-related action against the Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust outside the period called for by the trust’s procedures, her action is untimely, a Delaware judge said in granting a motion to dismiss.
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September 10, 2024
Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002
The following is a listing of plaintiff and defense experts who testified in trials covered by Mealey's Litigation Report: Asbestos since Jan. 1, 2002.
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September 09, 2024
New York Court Consolidates Moline, Northwell Asbestos Studies Appeals
NEW YORK — A New York appellate court consolidated two appeals involving a ruling quashing subpoenas to asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline and Northwell Health Inc. and said the cases will be heard in the September term as requested.
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September 09, 2024
Asbestos-Talc Class Drops Appeal Of Bankruptcy Injunction Ruling
TRENTON, N.J. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a voluntarily motion to dismiss a case challenging denial of a ruling finding that the “strictly hypothetical” harms did not create jurisdiction in a case asking that a New Jersey federal judge grant a temporary restraining order and enjoin Johnson & Johnson from filing a third bankruptcy designed to resolve its asbestos-talc related liabilities.
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September 09, 2024
Plaintiffs Dismiss Suit Challenging BNSF, Insurer’s Asbestos Payment ‘Float’
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Montana asbestos plaintiffs who sued BNSF Railway Co. and its insurer Zurich American Insurance Co. for allegedly trading 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 filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice in their federal court suit.
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September 09, 2024
Georgia Defendants: Court Erred In Allowing Expert’s Cumulative Exposure Opinion
ATLANTA — A trial court improperly admitted expert testimony that cumulative exposures to asbestos increased a man’s risk of mesothelioma, ignored other testimony indicating that the man’s employers could have learned of the risks and then denied summary judgment despite the lack of admissible causation evidence, premises owners tell the Georgia Court of Appeals.
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September 09, 2024
Wisconsin Court Dismisses Asbestos Defendant’s Take-Home Exposure Appeal
MILWAUKEE — A company found 50% liable for a $9.7 million verdict in a take-home asbestos case was granted voluntary dismissal of its appeal, according to a docket entry.
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September 06, 2024
California Judge Will Grant Genetic Testing Motion But Wants Protocols In Place
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge said he remained inclined to grant a motion for genetic testing seeking to determine whether a man suffers from a germline mutation that might explain his mesothelioma, but stayed the ruling and said the parties should meet and confer to ensure a protocol exists to protect the genetic information and ensure destruction of any results that exceed the court’s order.
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September 06, 2024
Evidence, Experts Combine To Keep Rhode Island Secondhand Asbestos Case Alive
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A secondhand asbestos suit may proceed based on expert testimony paired with an internal Ford Motor Co. document acknowledging the presence of asbestos and its dangers while a family member’s recollection of using a second defendant’s products keeps it in the suit as well, a judge in Rhode Island said in denying defendants’ summary judgment motions.
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September 06, 2024
Asbestos Case Briefing Focuses On $200M In Punitive Damages
PORTLAND, Ore. — Two Johnson & Johnson entities rebutted claims that they knowingly sold asbestos-tainted talc for decades, telling an Oregon judge that in addition to its “unprecedented and excessive” size, the $200 million punitive damage award improperly punishes them for three sales of talc during the relevant period.
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September 06, 2024
Settlement From 1993 Bars Recent Mesothelioma Case, New York Justice Finds
NEW YORK — A 1993 settlement of asbestos-related claims against a power company clearly and unambiguously contemplated mesothelioma as a one of the future potential diseases covered by the agreement and bars a family’s action, a New York justice affirmed in denying a motion to reargue.
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September 06, 2024
Eyeing Appeal Of $8.8M Asbestos Verdict, Company Defends Appellate Bond
LOS ANGELES — While an appellate bond might not name all the plaintiffs, the size of the bond ensures that all of the plaintiffs’ interests are protected, a company found partly liable for a nearly $9 million in asbestos verdict tells a California court in opposing a motion objecting to the bond amount.