Real-Time Court Decisions and Other Developments in Asbestos Litigation.
In this case alleging asbestos exposure from talc, mesothelioma plaintiff filed a motion to remand back to Florida state court after defendant Johnson & Johnson removed to federal court based upon diversity jurisdiction. The defendant argued that the plaintiff fraudulently joined defendant Publix Super Markets, Inc. (Publix) to destroy diversity. The court determined Publix was …
The decedent, a civilian employee for the United States Navy from 1958-1964, died from mesothelioma. Prior to passing he brought suit in St. Louis City, Missouri, in December 2015, which the defendants removed to federal court. His representatives continued the suit after he passed. Defendant Crane Co. filed a motion to dismiss based upon collateral …
The plaintiff alleged the decedent, who died of mesothelioma, was exposed to asbestos while serving as an engineman, machinery repairman, and machinist mate in the U.S. Navy during the 1960s. Although the majority of the decedent’s exposure occurred on four ships, to which maritime law applied, the plaintiff also alleged exposure during the six months …
The plaintiffs brought this action against several defendants for their decedent’s alleged development of mesothelioma while working aboard ships as an engine man, machinery repairman, and machinist mate. The defendants moved for summary judgment again after the court announced it would not adopt the Sixth Circuit’s version of the bare metal defense. The court concluded …
In this federal court case, it was alleged that the plaintiff’s decedent was exposed to asbestos while serving in various job duties while in the U.S. Navy during the 1960s. The plaintiff brought two Daubert motions seeking to preclude the defendants’ experts, Drs Michael Graham and Mark Taragin, from testifying. Dr. Graham is a forensic …
The defendants moved for summary judgment arguing that the plaintiff, John Bell, lacked standing to pursue a wrongful death or survival action under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). Specifically, the defendants relied on the language in DOHSA, which stated that “when death of an individual is caused by wrongful act, neglect, or …
R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc., which formerly manufactured and sold industrial talc that purportedly contained asbestos, brought this action seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment to determine its rights and obligations, and those of approximately thirty defendant insurance companies, as to the costs of defending and indemnifying the plaintiff in thousands of underlying lawsuits brought against …
The plaintiffs asserted that the decedent, Joseph Conneen, was exposed to asbestos while working as a pipefitter and plumber from 1962-80 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Rohm and Haas. The decedent died of lung cancer. The complaint was filed on January 20, 2015. In March 2015, the case was removed to the U.S. District …
In a significant decision concerning the causation standards in asbestos matters, on February 28, 2017, the Appellate Division, First Department in a 3-1 decision, affirmed the trial court’s decision to vacate an $11 million jury verdict against an automotive manufacturer. By way of background, in Juni v. Ford Motor Company, Index Number 190315/12, plaintiff alleged …
In this NYCAL asbestos action, plaintiff Ivette Montanez alleged that she developed malignant mesothelioma as the result of washing her brother’s laundry. Montanez’s brother, Eliud Hernandez, Jr., testified to working with Beck/Arnley brakes at a friend’s automobile ship in Puerto Rico when he was 15-17 years old. Defendant Beck Arnley Worldparts, Inc. moved for summary …