Mealey's Asbestos
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February 27, 2024
Judge Again Denies Company’s Motion To Sanction Asbestos Attorney
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California adopted a tentative ruling denying yet another effort by a company to sanction an asbestos plaintiff’s attorney, saying the company waived one of its arguments by not responding and failed to show that comments during trial about others that served aboard ships or a screen saver some jurors might have seen that potentially showed family members were false or constitute bad faith.
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February 27, 2024
New York Jury Finds For AII In Barbershop Asbestos-Talc Case
NEW YORK — A New York jury returned a defense verdict for American International Inc. (AII) over claims that a woman suffered exposure to asbestos in talc used at the barbershop where her husband worked, sources told Mealey Publications.
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February 26, 2024
Judge: Sophisticated User Doctrine Can’t Free Manufacturer From Asbestos Case
NEW ORLEANS — A manufacturer of composite panels installed aboard ships can’t escape its duty to warn in an asbestos case based on sophisticated user doctrine, a federal judge in Louisiana said in a case on the verge of trial.
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February 22, 2024
Tobacco Defendant’s Failure To Produce Asbestos Evidence Not Willful, Justice Says
NEW YORK — There is no evidence that a tobacco company’s failure to produce reports it no longer has in its possession about testing performed on asbestos-containing Micronite cigarette filters was willful, a New York justice said in denying a motion that sought to compel production or dismiss the company’s answer.
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February 22, 2024
3rd Circuit To Decide Asbestos-Talc Securities Class Certification Dispute
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 21 agreed to hear a case challenging class certification of a securities fraud lawsuit after Johnson & Johnson and related parties told the court that certifying a price-drop suit based on media reports of already public information about potential asbestos contamination of talc products could lead to “extortionate litigation.”
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February 22, 2024
Judge Tells Parties To Reduce Estimated Asbestos Trial Timeline
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana ordered parties to a household asbestos exposure case to meet and confer for a second time and figure out how to fit an upcoming trial into a three-week window.
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February 21, 2024
Governo Firm Says Injury Arose From Taking Of Asbestos Records
BOSTON — A trial judge erred when he ignored previous jury findings about conversion of a law firm’s asbestos records during a second trial on a separate statutory claim, and the claim required only an adverse effect, which the loss of those records and attorney fees incurred in litigating the conversion claim satisfied, a law firm told a Massachusetts appeals court.
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February 20, 2024
Parties In Appeal Over Asbestos Trust Expert’s Audit Finish Briefing
NEW ORLEANS — Parties involved in a dispute between a B-reader and a company that performed an audit that eventually led to his exclusion from an asbestos trust claim submission process briefed the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether litigation privilege precluded the suit and whether there was any link between the audit and his exclusion that would give the trial court jurisdiction.
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February 20, 2024
Judge Rejects Reinsurer’s Efforts To Quash Service In Settlement Reimbursement Row
OMAHA, Neb. — Ruling that a Brazil-based reinsurer “failed to rebut [an insurer’s] prima facie case of effective service of process,” a Nebraska federal judge denied the reinsurer’s motions to vacate default and quash service in the suit over reimbursement for a settlement reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposure.
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February 16, 2024
Turbine Seller, Installer Can’t Be Strictly Liable In Maryland Asbestos Case
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A company that “wore two hats” in both selling and then subcontracting the installation of an asbestos-containing turbine at a power station cannot be held strictly liable because the turbine never truly left its possession or control, a Maryland court said in affirming summary judgment.
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February 15, 2024
Man Appeals Ruling Finding Asbestos Tolling Agreement Void
NEW ORLEANS — A Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) claimant allegedly exposed to asbestos once again appealed a grant of summary judgment in favor of his former railroad employer in which a federal judge in Texas found that state law prohibited the type of implied indefinite tolling of statute limitations used by the parties in the case to settle hundreds of asbestos claims.
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February 14, 2024
Claims Against LIGA Tossed In Asbestos Coverage Suit Involving Insolvent Insurer
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge granted summary judgment to the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) and dismissed an asbestos liability suit against it, finding that the claims for asbestos-related lung cancer against LIGA, as the statutory obligor for a now-insolvent insurer, are not covered claims.
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February 14, 2024
European Rights Court Awards Asbestos Damages, Finds Swiss Time Bar Improper
STRASBOURGH, France — By finding that the statute of limitations began when a man suffered his last exposure to asbestos and barred claimants’ action, a Swiss court violated the European Convention on Human Rights entitlement to court access, the European Court of Human Rights said Feb. 13.
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February 14, 2024
Washington Panel: Asbestos Knowledge Doesn’t Meet Intentional Injury Standard
SEATTLE — The state’s intentional injury exception to workers’ compensation exclusivity requires knowledge that the specific individual in question will be injured, a standard that knowledge about the presence of asbestos at an aluminum facility and the associated dangers do not meet, a Washington appeals court said in affirming summary judgment for a former employer.
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February 13, 2024
Hospital Says Burden, Third-Party Status Warranted Quashing Asbestos Subpoena
RICHMOND, Va. — Third-party subpoenas fall under a higher standard that an asbestos defendant cannot meet given the evidence’s marginal relationship to the case, a hospital told the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 12, also arguing that the burden that disclosing anonymous study participants would impose supports a trial court’s decision to quash the subpoena.
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February 13, 2024
Magistrate Judge Allows Supplemented Expert Reports, Extends J&J MDL Deadlines
TRENTON, N.J. — A magistrate judge in the federal multidistrict litigation for Johnson & Johnson talc-related liabilities declined to strike expert reports, saying the importance of the reports and the ability to mitigate any resulting harm by extending discovery deadlines do not support such a harsh outcome.
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February 13, 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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February 08, 2024
Judge Grants Reconsideration, Consolidates Asbestos-Talc Cases For Trial
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Though a makeup artist’s asbestos-talc case involves different alleged exposures than a woman’s action alleging personal use, the cases involve sufficiently similar products, experts and other evidence to warrant consolidation for trial, a California judge said in granting reconsideration.
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February 08, 2024
Dismissal Granted In Asbestos Liability Case Involving Guaranty Association
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on Feb. 7 granted a motion for voluntary dismissal of a man’s claim that he was exposed to asbestos through contact with a specific worker at a shipyard but keeping other claims regarding exposure against the shipyard, related parties, multiple insurers and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA).
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February 07, 2024
Judge OKs Punitive Damages, Virtual Attendance In Maritime Asbestos Case
CHICAGO — A maritime plaintiff may seek punitive damages at an upcoming trial, which he will be able to view remotely given the limitations he faces from his mesothelioma, a federal judge in Illinois said in granting an unopposed motion and largely denying summary judgment.
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February 07, 2024
4th Circuit Defers Ruling On Sanctions In Asbestos Case Referral Appeal
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will defer any ruling on a separate motion for sanctions pending review of the merits of an appeal involving whether a trial court properly imposed sanctions for conduct in an asbestos bankruptcy trust referral fee dispute.
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February 07, 2024
Colgate, Asbestos-Talc Plaintiff Face Off About Genetics, Expert Testimony
OAKLAND, Calif. — After a plaintiff moved to exclude argument about why she didn’t undergo genetic testing and what her genetics might mean for her mesothelioma, an asbestos-talc defendant filed its own motion seeking to exclude what it termed unreliable non-witness expert testimony that it says the plaintiff hopes to introduce into the case through the “backdoor.”
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February 07, 2024
5th Circuit Grants Summary Reversal Of Longshore Asbestos Case
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a joint motion for summary reversal in a Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) preemption “twilight zone” asbestos case.
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February 05, 2024
Missouri Supreme Court Won’t Review Workers’ Comp Asbestos Ruling
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court denied review of an asbestos case against an employer, leaving stand a lower court ruling that revived the case after the court concluded that an insurance broker lacked the knowledge to testify about whether the employer secured workers’ compensation coverage for mesothelioma and that there was insufficient evidence that a policy was in effect at the appropriate time.
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February 05, 2024
Rail Company Defends Need For Testimony Of Former Libby, Mont., Clinic Director
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A railway tells a federal judge in Montana in opposition to a motion to quash the railway’s subpoena that trial preservation testimony is the best way to secure potentially admissible evidence from an asbestos clinic’s former medical director and that his status as a former employee doesn’t matter since he can testify about how a clinic patient described her exposures to asbestos.