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

Mealey's Asbestos

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
Insurer: Policy Authenticated; Court Should Review Missouri Workers’ Comp Ruling

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court should review a case so that it can affirm that an insurance contract could be authenticated through the testimony of a person knowledgeable about its existence and that the date of diagnosis governs whether workers’ compensation exclusivity applies, an insurer tells the court.
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
Parties Ask Kentucky Top Court To Dismiss Appeals In J&J Talc Testimony Case

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Parties to a pair of appeals before the Kentucky Supreme Court moved to dismiss the cases involving in part whether a corporate representative’s testimony about his personal use of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) talc products was relevant in an asbestos-talc case after a lower court granted the plaintiff a new trial based on the testimony’s admission.
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
Insurer Says It Will Appeal Missouri Workers’ Comp Exclusivity Case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a Missouri appeals court declined to grant a motion to transfer an asbestos case involving a workers’ compensation claim to the state’s top court, an insurer notified the appeals court on Dec. 6 that it would file an application seeking similar relief directly with the Missouri Supreme Court.
December 06, 2023
Judge Orders Briefs On Return Of Talc Bottles, Asbestos Plaintiff’s Use

NEW YORK — Parties must brief why a state court ruling in a separate case ordering the return of two bottles of talc produced in discovery does not violate the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, and plaintiff Brian Gref should explain what he intends to do with the bottles after receiving them and why the court should not consider the evidence spoliated if the bottles are used as evidence in the separate case, a federal magistrate judge in New York said Dec. 5.
December 06, 2023
John Crane Reiterates Maritime Asbestos Widow Can’t Seek Her Own Damages

BOSTON — A Navy widow’s survival action does not permit recovery of her own damages, and the court already concluded that maritime law does not permit a wrongful death action seeking nonpecuniary damages for loss of society and consortium, an asbestos defendant tells a federal judge in Massachusetts in a motion to dismiss.
December 06, 2023
9th Circuit Rejects Jury Instruction, Prejudice Challenges To Asbestos Verdict

SAN DIEGO — A trial court did not err in instructing a jury on the consumer expectation test, any problem with statements made by the defendant during the trial were remedied by the court’s corrective statements and a man never addressed the reasons a court excluded deposition testimony taken from the defendant’s corporate representative in previous asbestos cases, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming a defense verdict.
December 04, 2023
Judge Says Settlements Apply To Plaintiff’s Costs, Wipe Out Ford Asbestos Verdict

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Offsets for settlement recoveries apply to costs and leave an asbestos plaintiff originally awarded $275,000 from Ford Motor Co. with nothing, a federal judge in North Carolina said.
December 04, 2023
Louisiana Court Revives Children’s Subpoena Into Widow’s Asbestos Settlements

NEW ORLEANS — A district court judge erred in granting a widow’s motion to quash a subpoena, a divided Louisiana appellate court said, concluding that the lower court failed to consider whether surviving children’s subpoena seeking information about a widow’s settlements in an asbestos case could lead to discoverable information.
December 04, 2023
Delaware High Court Leaves Merck-Bayer Asbestos-Talc Liability Ruling Undisturbed

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court said it would affirm a ruling that an asset purchase agreement left Merck & Co. Inc. and not Bayer AG liable for asbestos-talc liabilities arising from products sold before the closing of the $14 billion sale, saying in a one-page order that it would do so based on the reasoning of the Court of Chancery.
December 04, 2023
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.
November 30, 2023
California Judge Orders Limited Asbestos-Talc Plaintiff Testimony On Genetics

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge said an asbestos-talc plaintiff must answer three questions posed to her at her deposition about genetic testing about which she refused to answer but that the defendants were not entitled to discovery of any and all information about genetic mutations from which the woman suffers.
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
Post-Trial Asbestos Motions After $107M Award Focus On Jurors, Damages

LOS ANGELES — A plaintiff awarded in excess of $107 million in an asbestos case defended causation testimony, the conduct of jurors and counsel and the size of the award from the three defendants’ motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) in a handful of post-trial motions filed in a California superior court.
November 29, 2023
Shipbuilders Warn Of ‘Sweeping Consequences’ To Maritime Asbestos Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appellate ruling allowing a state tort asbestos claim under the “twilight zone” line of cases governing maritime cases cannot be cabined to Louisiana and threatens “sweeping consequences” that are already being felt, a shipbuilding association told the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae 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
FELA Asbestos Plaintiff Warns: Georgia Ruling Will Impact Every Daubert Case

ATLANTA — A man tells the Georgia Supreme Court that it must review a divided appellate court ruling excluding his Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) expert’s opinion that exposure to asbestos and other toxins caused lung cancer, saying the divided and “fractured” ruling shows the court rushed its opinion and warning that the confusion the ruling creates could result in it being cited by both parties in every trial court case applying Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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 28, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Reimbursement Row Over Reinsurance Contract

OMAHA, Neb. — Sparring with one defendant over claims pertaining to a reinsurance contract purportedly issued decades ago, an insurer on Nov. 27 urged a Nebraska federal court to deny a dismissal motion in its suit over reimbursement for a settlement with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures.
November 28, 2023
Employer Warns Against Categorizing Asbestos Injuries As Substantial Certainty

HARTFORD, Conn. — Expanding the substantial-certainty doctrine in workers’ compensation cases to long-term asbestos exposure cases threatens to flood courts with tort actions currently handled by the state’s dedicated asbestos workers’ compensation docket, an employer warned the Connecticut Supreme Court in a petition for certification.