Real-Time Court Decisions and Other Developments in Asbestos Litigation.
In spring of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 20-year rise in the number of mesothelioma deaths in women. Analyzing annual Multiple Cause of Death records from the National Vital Statistics System for 1999 to 2020, researchers found that the annual number of mesothelioma deaths among women in the …
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, July 28, 2022 As previously reported in the Asbestos Case Tracker, decedent Callen Cortez alleged direct occupational exposure to asbestos, as well as take-home exposure from his father’s and brother’s work. As pertinent to this motion, the decedent’s father was an insulator for B&B Engineering …
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, July 25, 2022 As previously reported on the Asbestos Case Tracker, this matter stems from decedent Callan Cortez’s take-home exposure to asbestos, from his brother, Daniel, who lived with the decedent while he worked at Avondale Shipyards in 1967-68. Most recently, defendants ViacomCBS Inc. (Westinghouse), General …
Superior Court of Rhode Island, Providence, July 22, 2022 In this asbestos-related lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the decedent, Ann Stadtler, developed mesothelioma and died due to take-home exposure to asbestos from her stepfather, Charles Ferguson, with whom she lived from 1948 to 1965. During this time, as part of his employment as a union …
United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, July 21, 2022 In this asbestos action, defendant Honeywell International Inc., f/k/a Allied Signal Inc. as successor-in-interest to The Bendix Corporation filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Plaintiff failed to respond to Honeywell’s motion. A district court has personal jurisdiction over a …
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, July 20, 2022 In this asbestos action, decedent Callen Cortez was diagnosed with mesothelioma following occupational and take-home exposure to asbestos. As relevant to the motion, plaintiff’s complaint alleged that former suppliers and distributors Eagle and McCarty were liable as manufacturers as a “professional vendor,” …
Supreme Court of New York, Monroe County Meissner v. Ridge Constr., Inc., 2022 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 310 After obtaining a jury trial verdict of $8 million on November 19, 2019, in an action for asbestos exposure in 1970-71 resulting in mesothelioma against Ridge Construction, Inc., a former subsidiary of Eastman Kodak, the plaintiffs filed an …
Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, July 19, 2022 On July 19, 2022, the First Department reversed three New York City Asbestos Litigation (“NYCAL”) decisions that denied summary judgment to Defendant, American Biltrite, Inc. (“ABI”), finding that the plaintiffs could not prove specific causation, and thus summary judgment to ABI was in …
Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, July 19, 2022 In 2017, Plaintiff Donna Olson (“Plaintiff”) filed suit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J), claiming that her lifelong use of J&J talcum powder exposed her to asbestos and caused her to develop mesothelioma. After a 12-week jury trial in 2019, a New York City …
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana; July 18, 2022 Plaintiffs filed an asbestos-related lawsuit on behalf of Decedent, Callan Cortez, alleging that Mr. Cortez contracted mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos, and subsequently died. The relevant exposure claimed by Mr. Cortez was take-home exposure from his brother, Daniel, who …