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Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

  • January 29, 2026

    Asbestos Pipe Defendant Levels RICO Allegations Against Gori Law Firm

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — The Gori Law Firm and its attorneys conspired to file sham asbestos lawsuits, pursued claims they knew were baseless and coached witnesses in furtherance of that scheme, J-M Manufacturing Company Inc. alleges in a Jan. 28 lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court alleging violation of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

  • January 29, 2026

    Imerys, Cyprus Mines Debtors Defend Settlement With J&J In 3rd Circuit

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reject “yet another chapter in the meritless efforts of” insurers of asbestos talc debtors Imerys Talc America Inc. and Cyprus Mines Corp. to overturn approval of a $280 million settlement with talc seller Johnson & Johnson for a dispute over indemnification rights for defense of asbestos personal injury claims and “finally put an end to this misadventure,” the debtors say in their appellee brief.

  • January 29, 2026

    Kansas Court Affirms Verdict But Allows FELA Offsets For Asbestos Trust Recoveries

    TOPEKA, Kan. — A widow need not have placed an exact value on her husband’s services to recover for them, and the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) permits a railroad to offset a negligence verdict award by amounts she received from asbestos bankruptcy trusts for his mesothelioma, a Kansas Court of Appeals panel said in reversing the verdict in part and affirming in part.

  • January 27, 2026

    Debtor Nash’s Trustee Seeks Return Of Assets In Fraudulent Transfer Suits

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. is seeking a “prejudgment remedy” in a motion filed in his two fraudulent transfer suits in Connecticut federal court due to “recent and alarming revelations in discovery concerning [a holding company’s] improper dissipation of millions of dollars in assets after the bankruptcy filing.”

  • January 27, 2026

    Montana High Court Appoints New Chief Judge For Asbestos Court

    KALISPELL, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court appointed a new judge to oversee the statewide asbestos litigation in the wake of last year’s resignation of the previous judge, who had overseen the litigation since its original consolidation in 2016.

  • January 27, 2026

    J&J Challenges Causation, $950M In Punitive Damages In Asbestos-Talc Case

    LOS ANGELES — In a pair of motions, Johnson & Johnson tells a California judge that the family of a deceased woman failed to establish exposure to asbestos in talc and that its testing of its products was not consistent with the type of conduct required for punitive damages and especially not the $950 million awarded by a Los Angeles jury.

  • January 23, 2026

    After Weeks Of Trial, Parties Settle California Asbestos-Talc Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — The last remaining defendant in an asbestos-talc trial in California that started in December asked the court for 10 minutes to finalize a settlement and after a short break notified the court that the parties resolved their differences.

  • January 21, 2026

    Goodyear Hit With $12.5M Judgment In Louisiana Mesothelioma Case

    NEW ORLEANS — A judge in Louisiana entered judgment in favor of a mesothelioma sufferer and against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for more than $12.5 million after finding it liable for exposing the office manager to asbestos in brake products.

  • January 20, 2026

    Insurers Say Bankruptcy Judge Lacked Power To Enjoin Their Claims In Avon Plan

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge’s ruling confirming the Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for asbestos talc debtor AIO US Inc. should be overturned because the order exceeded the court’s authority, nondebtor insurers say in the opening brief in their appeal of the confirmation decision to a federal district court.

  • January 15, 2026

    No Standing For Insurers To Challenge FCR In Hopeman Chapter 11 Case

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Insurers of Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. do not have bankruptcy appellate standing to challenge a Virginia federal bankruptcy court’s appointment of a legal representative for future asbestos claimants in the debtor’s case, a federal judge in the state said in granting Hopeman’s motion to dismiss the appeal.

  • January 13, 2026

    Supreme Court Won’t Review Receiver’s Appointment In South Carolina Asbestos Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 declined to review a South Carolina judge’s ruling appointing a receiver over Canadian defendant Atlas Turner Inc.’s asbestos-related insurance assets, a practice the company described in its briefing as “astonishing.”

  • January 13, 2026

    Burnham Divests Asbestos Liabilities To Funded Subsidiaries

    LANCASTER, Pa. — Burnham Holdings Inc. (BHI) announced it would restructure, divest its asbestos-related liabilities and take other steps to streamline and optimize operations.

  • January 08, 2026

    Judge Will Allow J&J Affiliate To Amend Complaint Against Talc Study Author

    TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey federal judge hearing a fraud case filed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff and Chapter 11 debtor Pecos River Talc LLC against the author of a scientific study on asbestos in talc products told the parties that she intends to grant the debtor relief from her dismissal of the suit and allow it to amend its complaint after the company presented new evidence.

  • January 07, 2026

    Family Company Denies Fraudulent Transfer Claims Filed By Debtor’s Trustee

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A defendant family company that won dismissal of a fraudulent transfer suit filed by the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate has filed an answer to the trustee’s third amended complaint, denying all allegations against it rather than seeking dismissal again.

  • December 24, 2025

    Canadian Company Says Asbestos Receivership Ruling Requires Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A judge’s ruling appointing a receiver over a foreign company’s insurance assets regardless of where those assets exist was improper and conflicts with various other court rulings, a Canadian asbestos defendant tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a reply in support of its petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • December 23, 2025

    Shepard’s Analysis Of U.S. Supreme Court Bankruptcy Standing Ruling

    As of Dec. 19, 52 federal court decisions have referenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 holding in an asbestos bankruptcy case that an insurer with financial responsibility for bankruptcy claims qualifies as a party in interest with standing to comment on a debtor’s plan of reorganization, rejecting the “insurance neutrality” doctrine that had barred such participation, according to a Shepard’s analysis of the high court’s opinion.

  • December 23, 2025

    Maryland Jury Awards Nonprofit CEO Nearly $1.56B From J&J For Mesothelioma

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland jury on Dec. 22 awarded a mesothelioma sufferer who operates a nonprofit supporting children $1.5 billion in punitive damages plus compensatory damages for asbestos exposure linked to Johnson & Johnson entities’ talc products.

  • December 22, 2025

    Minnesota Jury Awards $65.5 Million For Talc-Related Mesothelioma

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota jury on Dec. 19 awarded a 37-year-old woman and her husband more than $65.5 million for peritoneal mesothelioma she developed after exposure to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson consumer talc.

  • December 22, 2025

    Debtor’s Trustee Must Clarify Fraudulent Transfer Claim, Federal Judge Rules

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut dismissed a fraudulent transfer complaint filed by the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. seeking the return of more than $59 million from a holding company and its members to the debtor’s estate but allowed the trustee to amend the complaint to make clear that a family company, which had sought dismissal, is a proper defendant.

  • December 16, 2025

    Parties Dismissed In Asbestos Liability Suit Against Guaranty Association

    BATON ROUGE, La. — After parties indicated they had reached a settlement, a Louisiana federal judge dismissed claims against certain of the parties in an asbestos liability suit against individuals and multiple entities, including the Louisiana Guaranty Association (LIGA), alleging that a man’s workplace exposure to asbestos particles resulted in his lung disease and death.

  • December 16, 2025

    California Jury Awards $40M In Bellwether Asbestos-Talc Ovarian Cancer Cases

    LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury hearing the first two asbestos-talc ovarian cancer bellwether cases found against Johnson & Johnson and handed the plaintiffs $18 million and $22 million awards.

  • December 11, 2025

    U.K. Supreme Court: Scottish Law Allows Family To Seek Mesothelioma Damages

    LONDON — Scottish law governing damages specifically permits the family of a deceased man to seek damages despite his previous settlement discharging his employer’s liability for any future mesothelioma, the United Kingdom Supreme Court held Dec. 10.

  • December 10, 2025

    Supreme Court Told Asbestos Receiver Ruling Not Worth Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should not review an interlocutory ruling appointing a receiver over a Canadian company’s insurance assets related to an asbestos claim, the respondent and the receiver tell the court in opposing the company’s petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • December 09, 2025

    Bankruptcy Judge Closes Chapter 11 Case Of ‘Gone With The Wind’ Cosmetics Company

    LOS ANGELES — A federal bankruptcy judge in California entered a final decree and order closing the Chapter 11 Subchapter V asbestos talc case of family-run cosmetics business Ben Nye Co. Inc., whose founder gained fame through his work on motion pictures and was forced into filing for bankruptcy protection for his company by asbestos personal injury litigation.

  • December 08, 2025

    Federal Judge Extends Stay Of Asbestos Case During Bankruptcy

    NEW ORLEANS — The inequity in preventing a shipyard operator from pursuing its asbestos-related crossclaim against a bankrupt subcontractor’s insurer warrants extending a stay of a tort action for only a brief time, a federal judge in Louisiana said in granting the shipyard company’s motion to reinstate the stay.