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September 22, 2026
DENVER — In a unanimous ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court on Sept. 21 answered “no” to a question certified to the court from a federal court asking whether umbrella/excess policies are triggered because payment cannot be collected from the insolvent primary carrier despite an occurrence being otherwise covered, finding that the terms of the umbrella policies do not require that insurer to “step into the shoes of an insolvent, scheduled underlying insurer.”
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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
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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September 22, 2026
ST. LOUIS — Ovarian cancer plaintiffs and various defendants involved in Missouri talc litigation asked a judge to stay proceedings, saying their cases are part of the proposed $5.5 billion settlement recently announced in the federal multidistrict litigation.
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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 22, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge continued an asbestos trial set for later this month until November, citing the number of ongoing asbestos trials in Alameda County and the number of pending ones entitled to calendar preference.
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September 21, 2026
CHICAGO — A Japanese company that manufactured component parts for brakes it knew would end up in the United States is subject to an Illinois resident’s suit alleging that her spouse died after exposure to asbestos in automotive brake parts, an Illinois court held in affirming denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of specific jurisdiction.
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September 17, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana dismissed a woman’s amended Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) suit alleging exposure at a NASA facility after concluding that the plaintiff’s added allegations did not put the case outside the law’s discretionary function exception.
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September 11, 2026
OMAHA, Neb. — A railroad worker was exposed to benzene, silica and asbestos dust and fibers during his 41-year employment with BNSF Railway Co., which had knowledge of the exposure and associated risks and that exposure “caused or contributed to” the worker’s esophageal cancer, his daughter alleges in a complaint filed in a federal court in Nebraska seeking more than $150,000.
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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 10, 2026
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Appeals Court on Sept. 9 heard oral arguments over whether the jury heard sufficient evidence that mesothelioma could arise seven years after a man’s talc pleurodesis and the propriety of the jury’s $21.5 million award for future pain and suffering.
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September 08, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — While plaintiffs in a Navy-exposure asbestos suit attempt to narrow their allegations to a time period before 1972, the allegations in the petition are more broadly pleaded than that, a federal judge in Louisiana said in denying remand.
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September 08, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge ruled on a series of motions in limine in an asbestos-talc case, excluding evidence and arguments about talc pleurodesis designed to show talc’s safety, allowing evidence that erionite exposure in Mexico led the plaintiff to develop mesothelioma, and making various determinations on experts’ admissibility.
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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’s Publications.
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September 08, 2026
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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September 08, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Johnson & Johnson and an affiliate (J&J) withdrew a consolidated bellwether asbestos action in which a jury handed it a defense verdict, ending posttrial briefing in which the plaintiffs challenged the “jury’s inexplicable finding that J&J was not negligent.”
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September 08, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A non-debtor affiliate of Barretts Minerals Inc. subject to suit for testing of talc told the California Supreme Court it is not subject to jurisdiction in California and is entitled to an explanation from the appellate court for why it denied a writ. But in an answer, the plaintiff says it is the testing that allowed the talc to find its way to the state.
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September 04, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Allegations that a New Jersey company operated a warehouse in California out of which it shipped allegedly asbestos-tainted talc for distribution to at least one cosmetics company whose product the plaintiff used suffice for personal jurisdiction, and the company has not adequately disputed the fairness of imposing jurisdiction, a California judge said in denying a motion to quash.
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September 04, 2026
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — With trial less than a week away, a man who says his mother died of mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos in consumer talc products filed a notice withdrawing his claims against all remaining defendants.
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September 01, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California appellate court on Aug. 31 denied a writ of mandate that Exxon Mobil Corp. filed challenging a trial judge’s conclusion that the company must submit definitive evidence of genetic causation before he would permit genetic testing, which the company warned in a writ of mandate would effectively prevent defendants in Los Angeles asbestos and other toxic tort cases from raising genetic causation defenses.
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September 01, 2026
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge on Aug. 31 granted a motion to transfer a suit filed by two insurers seeking equitable contribution from a third insurer for costs related to underlying asbestos personal injury claims filed against an insured after determining that Ohio, where the third insurer filed a declaratory judgment suit, is the more convenient venue for the parties and witnesses.