Real-Time Court Decisions and Other Developments in Asbestos Litigation.
NEW JERSEY – After a lengthy discussion of corporate successor liability and the histories of the companies at bar, a New Jersey appellate court ultimately determined that the factual record was too incomplete to resolve questions regarding jurisdiction, and dismissed an appeal of the trial court’s order denying talc defendant Cyprus Amax Minerals Company (Cyprus) …
NEW JERSEY – The New Jersey Supreme Court held that disputed excerpts from a settled defendant’s interrogatory answers and corporate representative depositions were admissible as statements against interest under N.J.R.E. 803(c)(25). As such, when presented at trial with other evidence, those statements gave rise to a prima facie showing that the settled defendants bore fault, and …
LOUISIANA – The plaintiff, Charles Merlin Parfait, Sr., alleged that he contracted mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos during his work at the Avondale Shipyards from 1968 to 1978, and sued various defendants in state court in Orleans Parish Louisiana. The plaintiff alleged strict liability claims in his state court petition, but specifically disclaimed strict liability claims …
NEW JERSEY – A New Jersey jury returned a verdict in the amount of $37.3 million dollars against Johnson and Johnson for combined compensatory damages brought by four mesothelioma claimants. The verdict came after three days of deliberations in a trial that lasted almost two months. The jury was tasked with determining whether Johnson and …
ILLINOIS — The plaintiff Theresa Romcoe filed suit under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) against the defendants, Illinois Central Railroad Company and Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation dba Metra Rail, alleging that her husband had passed away from esophageal cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos during the course of his employment. …
KCIC recently issued 2019 Midyear Asbestos Litigation Trends , which compiled statistics through June 30, 2019, and assessed them in comparison with the data from its previous Asbestos Litigation: 2018 Year In Review. The overall takeaways from the update, each assessed at greater length below, are: While non-malignant and “other” cancer filings continued trending downward …
NORTH CAROLINA – The Court of Appeals of North Carolina recently upheld the Worker’s Compensation Commission decisions and findings in 144 consolidated cases. Numerous plaintiffs, including Walter Hinson, Charles Wilson, Douglas Epps, and Bobby James Newell, sought compensation under the worker’s compensation statute for alleged asbestos related illnesses for their work at Continental Tire in …
GEORGIA – In Sheila Carter, Individually and as Executrix of the Estate of James R. Carter v. 3M, et al., the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia granted a pump manufacturer’s (the defendant) motion for summary judgment due to the plaintiff’s failure to oppose the motion. This action alleged that the decedent …
MARYLAND – The plaintiff, Clyde Crowe, developed mesothelioma and sued CSX Transportation and numerous other defendants in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City seeking damages under the Federal Employer’s Liability Act (FELA) due to his exposure to asbestos while employed by CSX. From 1960 to 1969, the plaintiff worked as a railway operator and foreman …
The Ninth Circuit affirmed an Idaho district court’s order granting summary judgment for the defendant, Union Pacific, in a secondary exposure case filed by the plaintiff William Stephens. The plaintiff alleged that his father was exposed to asbestos at his job at a Union Pacific roundhouse in Weiser, Idaho, and carried asbestos home on his clothes, …