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October 22, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy court’s denial of relief from the automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC sought by the executor of the estate of a now-deceased mesothelioma victim should be affirmed because the court did not abuse its discretion in applying Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decisions in its ruling, the debtor tells the appellate court in a response brief in the executor’s appeal.
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October 21, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Three bankruptcy law professors filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by asbestos claimants in the Chapter 11 case of CertainTeed LLC spinoff DBMP LLC, arguing that a decades-old high court ruling “provides a vital safeguard against serious abuse of the bankruptcy system by providing a sound historical foundation for the requirement that a debtor establish financial distress as part of the required showing for good faith” when seeking bankruptcy protection.
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October 15, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court denied a pair of petitions for review on Oct. 14, turning away challenges from nondebtor affiliates of Barretts Minerals Inc. that claimed they were not subject to personal jurisdiction in two California asbestos cases, according to the court’s docket.
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October 14, 2026
SEATTLE — There is little doubt that a woman’s asbestos suit against a consumer talc company would impact the bankruptcy of a talc mining company that acted as the defendant’s sole supplier, but that relevance also renders the consumer talc company’s removal of the woman’s action untimely, a federal judge in Washington said in remanding the woman’s case.
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October 13, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — Johnson & Johnson affiliate Pecos River Talc LLC filed a docketing statement in its appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a federal court’s award of summary judgment to asbestos talc study authors on the affiliate’s claim for trade libel based on the authors’ representations about the evidence behind the study participants’ exposures to asbestos.
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October 13, 2026
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina trial judge found ESAB Corp. and Altrad Group responsible for Cape Asbestos Co. Ltd.’s asbestos-related operations, a ruling that leaves the two companies liable for legal judgments, according to a press release from the plaintiffs’ counsel. It is the latest loss in the state for Altrad entities, which were recently told by the South Carolina Supreme Court that their motion seeking stay or recall of a remittitur in a case involving the appointment of a receivership over an English company’s assets misapprehended the procedural effect of remittitur or is simply yet another means of delay.
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October 13, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Prior to offering any evidence regarding the potential genetic causes of a man’s fatal mesothelioma, defendants would need to establish a foundation for such testimony, a California judge said in a ruling both granting and denying a series of motions in limine while noting that too much of the argument in those motions was general and did not actually address admissibility of the evidence.
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October 06, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 5 declined an invitation to once again consider Pennsylvania law requiring companies registering to do business in the state to consent to jurisdiction, turning away a railroad’s petition challenging the statute under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
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October 05, 2026
NEW YORK — The plaintiffs in a New York asbestos case on Oct. 2 entered a notice of ruling in which a New York justice said they presented sufficient evidence of asbestos exposure to cause mesothelioma and that the $10 million award for past pain and suffering, while higher than past awards, was consistent with more recent jury verdicts.
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October 05, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 5 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the estates of two mesothelioma victims seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of an $8 million combined judgment for the estates against the railroad company that hauled asbestos-tainted vermiculite from W.R. Grace & Co.’s mine in Libby, Mont.
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October 01, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A judge overseeing a California asbestos-talc case as it heads for trial limited evidence about potential alternative causes of a mesothelioma, saying that while the defendants concede that they are not arguing a genetic cause, they may argue that the disease was spontaneous.
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October 01, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge approved the disclosure statement for the reorganization plan of new Chapter 11 debtors Uniroyal Holding Inc. and an affiliate after the debtors mostly resolved objections to the document filed by insurers and the U.S. trustee and filed an amended statement and an amended plan.
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September 28, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal bankruptcy court properly enjoined settling insurers’ claims seeking contribution from nonsettling insurers and did not err in permitting holders of temporarily allowed but not-yet-filed talc liability claims to vote on the Chapter 11 plan of liquidation of asbestos talc debtor AIO US Inc. and affiliates, a Delaware federal judge held Sept. 25 in affirming confirmation of the plan over the objections of certain insurers.
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September 28, 2026
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York agreed to hold in abeyance a pending motion by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Pecos River Talc LLC seeking to compel Northwell Health Inc. to produce documents related to an asbestos-talc study conducted by employee and plaintiff-side expert, Jacqueline Moline, while the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals considers whether to revive the talc company’s trade libel claim.
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September 24, 2026
HOUSTON — The Chapter 11 case of defunct talc supplier BMI Oldco Inc. should be dismissed because the company is “administratively insolvent” and has “no operating business to reorganize, no realistic prospect of rehabilitation, de minimis income, and insufficient assets to pay the costs of administering” the case, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors says in its second attempt to have the case tossed.
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September 22, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court should “protect the integrity of the bankruptcy system” and “safeguard claimants’ constitutional rights to seek redress in the nation’s civil justice system” by putting a stop to the growing practice by wealthy corporations of shedding their asbestos liabilities through a restructuring known as the “Texas Two-Step,” asbestos claimants in the Chapter 11 case of CertainTeed LLC spinoff DBMP LLC say in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
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September 22, 2026
HOUSTON — A Texas federal bankruptcy judge entered a final decree on Sept. 21 closing the Chapter 11 case of cosmetics ingredients producer Miyoshi America Inc. less than five months after the company filed for bankruptcy with a prepackaged plan of reorganization in hand, saying entry of the decree “is in the best interests of the Reorganized Debtor, its creditors, and other parties in interest.”
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September 22, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court, various entities related to Cape PLC said a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling allowing the appointment of a receiver over an English company ignores precedent and gives state courts too much power over foreign entities.
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September 22, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge dismissed an asbestos case against a railway after the parties reached a settlement, ending litigation in which a judge granted a railway’s request for whole-genome sequencing and allowed the late disclosure of expert testimony, citing its importance to the case.
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September 22, 2026
SEATTLE — A woman asked a federal judge in Washington for immediate remand of her asbestos-talc case, saying that a company’s removal came outside any of the four 30-day windows available to it and the court does not have “related to” jurisdiction over the claims simply because a district court agreed to decide whether there was asbestos in a bankrupt talc supplier’s product.
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September 14, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware federal bankruptcy court should approve the disclosure statement for the reorganization plan of new Chapter 11 asbestos debtor and bath product maker Vi-Jon LLC on an interim basis because it provides “adequate information” to claimants who will vote on whether to accept the plan, the debtor says.
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September 14, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge should not rule on the adequacy of the disclosure statement for the reorganization plan of new Chapter 11 debtors Uniroyal Holding Inc. and an affiliate because the document that sets out how the debtors’ postbankruptcy asbestos personal injury trust will operate has not been filed yet, three of the debtors’ insurers argue in their objection to the proposed statement.
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September 10, 2026
SEATTLE — In a quartet of filings in a pair of cases, American International Industries and related entities removed a couple’s claims against them, noted that the asbestos-talc action related to BMI Oldco Inc.’s ongoing bankruptcy and asked for transfer to a Texas federal court set to consider whether BMI’s talc contained sufficient levels of asbestos to cause disease and for a stay of litigation while the court makes its determination.
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September 10, 2026
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed remand of an asbestos action on Sept. 9, finding that General Electric Co.’s provision of turbines to the U.S. Navy did not give it a colorable federal contractor defense to a woman’s claims stemming from her husband’s work at one of the company’s commercial facilities.
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September 08, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana jury hearing an asbestos-talc case against Johnson & Johnson awarded a pair $10 million for a woman’s malignant epithelioid mesothelioma, apportioning the company 9% of the liability, sources told Mealey Publications.