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March 18, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A $9 million verdict in a case alleging exposure to asbestos in shotgun shell basewads stands after a Delaware judge denied a motion for judgment or new trial, finding that an estate established that the manufacturers could both be liable and should have known of the dangers and that exposure cleared the bar for liability.
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March 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict on a $950 million punitive damages award against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in an asbestos-talc case, finding that while the plaintiff family members established causation, they had not demonstrated malicious conduct or that J&J had a duty to disclose, adding that the award was also likely inflated by attorney misconduct.
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March 12, 2026
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia said that as a sanction, a jury will be instructed that an expert had a duty to preserve emails between asbestos-talc study collaborators when he destroyed them, but said a motion seeking to compel interrogatory responses about litigation funding is denied for being untimely.
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March 10, 2026
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The judge overseeing New Jersey multicounty talc litigation declined to stay his ruling disqualifying Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles PC while the firm appeals to the New Jersey Supreme Court a ruling that reversed his original decision finding that their collaboration with a former Johnson & Johnson attorney was not improper.
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March 10, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — Insurers challenging the confirmation of the Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for asbestos talc debtor AIO US Inc. and the plan’s asbestos trust say in their reply brief on appeal in Delaware federal court that the trust and its advisory committee fail in their assertion that the appeal is “equitably moot” because the plan has taken effect.
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March 09, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. —The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals cleared the way for asbestos claimants to seek rehearing en banc by staying the mandate for a split panel’s decision affirming a North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge’s denial of the claimants’ request to lift the automatic stay in the Chapter 11 case of CertainTeed spinoff DBMP LLC so they could proceed with their state court lawsuits against CertainTeed and nondebtor affiliates.
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March 06, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania jury’s $7,148 award for a woman’s four years of suffering with ovarian cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos-tainted talc as part of its $250,000 verdict “is not a verdict. It is a number that is out of touch with the reality of the suffering,” plaintiffs argue in seeking additur. But in a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), two Johnson & Johnson entities argue that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that talc caused her disease, let alone conduct warranting punitive damages.
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March 04, 2026
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A New York federal bankruptcy court should approve a request by new Chapter 11 debtor Vanderbilt Minerals LLC to allow a stalking horse bidder and bid procedures for the sale of most of the debtor’s assets over the objections of counsel for asbestos claimants and the U.S. trustee so potential bidders have timely information on the sale, the debtor says in a March 4 reply to the objections.
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March 04, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge hearing a trade libel case filed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC against the author of a scientific study on asbestos in talc products has granted the spinoff relief from the judge’s dismissal of the suit and allowed it to amend its complaint after the company presented new evidence.
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March 03, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The legality of the “Texas Two-Step,” under which large wealthy corporations have used the Lone Star State’s divisional merger laws to create an affiliate and saddle the spinoff with all of the company’s asbestos liabilities, has reached the nation’s top court, with claimants of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC filing a petition for certiorari to challenge the corporate restructuring maneuver.
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March 03, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge granted a debtor insured’s motion to abstain from exercising jurisdiction over an insurer’s adversary proceeding, which seeks a declaration that no additional coverage is owed to the insured for thousands of asbestos liability claims, after determining that questions of state law weigh in favor of abstention.
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March 03, 2026
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s decision to grant a motion to dismiss an insured’s amended complaint seeking coverage for underlying asbestos liabilities, determining that the insured adequately states a claim for breach of contract.
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February 26, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — Bankruptcy trusts are the only reliable source of claims data, and an equitable bill of discovery permits a ruling preserving the evidence, repeat litigants in asbestos cases tell a Delaware Supreme Court in an appellee brief.
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February 26, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — The confirmed Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for asbestos talc debtor AIO US Inc. has taken effect, and an asbestos trust under the plan has been established and funded, so challenges to the plan by insurers in their plan confirmation appeal in Delaware federal court are “equitably moot,” the trust and its advisory committee argue in their appellee brief.
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February 25, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — The railroad company that hauled asbestos-tainted vermiculite from the world’s largest vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont., to destinations around the country under federal law is protected from strict liability claims by the “common carrier” exception to such liability, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 24 in reversing an $8 million combined judgment for the estates of two mesothelioma victims and directing the trial court to enter judgment for the railroad company on remand.
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February 25, 2026
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A bid by the Chapter 7 trustee for asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. for a “prejudgment remedy” in his two fraudulent transfer suits in Connecticut federal court should be rejected because he “has not established probable cause that he will be able to prove actual fraudulent intent by clear and convincing evidence,” the debtor’s holding company affiliate says in an opposition brief.
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February 24, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims judges recently issued three opinions affirming rulings adverse to claimants covering asbestos exposure and colon cancer, prostate disease and the ability of the government to seek compensation from liable parties for treatment to veterans.
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February 24, 2026
SEATTLE — A federal in Washington judge excluded a pair of asbestos experts and granted summary judgment to two shipyard defendants after the parties briefed her on the impact of the amended Federal Rules of Evidence and a recent U.S. Supreme Court case governing federal jurisdiction.
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February 24, 2026
CHICAGO — A pipe maker’s amended complaint accusing a law firm of improperly naming it in asbestos suits mischaracterizes the situation, targets protected litigation conduct and never rises to the level of racketeering, the firm says in asking a federal judge in Illinois to dismiss the action once again.
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February 12, 2026
By Mary Margaret Gay and Sarah Beth Jones
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February 20, 2026
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Having been disqualified by a New Jersey appellate court from the state’s multidistrict talc litigation, Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles PC asks the trial court not to disqualify it while it appeals a ruling finding its association with a former Johnson & Johnson lawyer improper. But in response, Johnson & Johnson entities argue that the trial court cannot ignore the appellate court’s ruling or the harm the companies will incur from having to face trial against a law firm that collaborated with one of its former attorneys.
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February 20, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A trio of parties briefed a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey on the impact a state appellate court’s disqualification of a law firm would have on the consolidated asbestos-talc litigation, with Johnson & Johnson entities telling the court the state court ruling governs the case while the challenged plaintiffs’ firm urged patience while it appeals the ruling.
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February 19, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A recently discovered plan of reorganization supports the position that a Chapter 11 bankruptcy discharged all debts and liabilities and bars an asbestos suit against an alleged successor entity, a mining company argues after a federal judge in Louisiana denied its summary judgment motion based on the document’s absence. The plaintiffs moved for contempt sanctions shortly after that ruling, citing “repeated misconduct” by the defendant, including reliance on the previously missing evidence.
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February 13, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. —A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge did not abuse his discretion in denying a request by asbestos claimants to lift the automatic stay so the claimants could proceed with their state court lawsuits against CertainTeed spinoff and Chapter 11 debtor DBMP LLC, a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming.
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February 11, 2026
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two insurers of Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. on Feb. 10 appealed a Virginia federal judge’s ruling that they do not have bankruptcy appellate standing to challenge a bankruptcy court’s appointment of a legal representative for future asbestos claimants in the debtor’s case.