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Mealey's Asbestos

  • July 24, 2025

    5th Circuit: Enclave Doctrine Bars Asbestos-Based Military Housing Claims

    NEW ORLEANS — A magistrate judge properly concluded that the federal enclave doctrine barred a host of claims in a dispute over asbestos and other contamination of military housing and that claims under Texas consumer protection law did not fall within an exception, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said affirming a summary judgment ruling in a recently published opinion.

  • July 23, 2025

    Judge Awards $98,280 In Attorney Fees For Asbestos Screening Appeal

    MISSOULA, Mont. —  BNSF Railway Co. is entitled to $98,280 in attorney fees on appeal after prevailing in its case alleging that a medical screening company submitted false claims to a Medicare program for Libby, Mont., residents diagnosed with asbestos-related disease, a Montana federal judge ruled.

  • July 22, 2025

    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.

  • July 22, 2025

    Asbestos Verdicts & Settlements: January 2024 – December 2024

    Every year, Mealey’s Litigation Report:  Asbestos compiles, analyzes and reports on verdict information appearing in the report from the previous calendar year.  The following report contains that information.

  • July 22, 2025

    California Jury Returns Asbestos Verdict For Auto Parts Companies

    LOS ANGELES — A California jury returned a defense verdict for three automobile parts defendants in an asbestos case, finding that a man’s exposure was not a substantial factor in his lung cancer.

  • July 22, 2025

    Asbestos Defendant Wants Sanctions For Late Disclosure Of Talc Bottle

    SEATTLE — American International Industries told a Washington State judge that the problems created by the failure to disclose a bottle of talc before testing are not cured by withdrawing the evidence and resulting opinion and that evidentiary and monetary sanctions are required.

  • July 22, 2025

    Talc Testing, Evidence Rulings At Heart Of $63.4M Verdict Appeal

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A trial court gave plaintiffs in an asbestos-talc suit an “uneven playing field” by allowing them to introduce expert causation testimony for the first time at opening statements and then slowly narrowing the available defenses, Johnson & Johnson entities tell the South Carolina Court of Appeals in challenging a $63.4 million verdict.

  • July 21, 2025

    Judge Allows Beasley Allen’s Participation In Consumer Talc MDL

    TRENTON, N.J. — The Beasley Allen Law Firm may participate in the asbestos-talc multidistrict litigation over the objections of Johnson & Johnson entities, a New Jersey federal judge overseeing the MDL said during a hearing while turning away arguments that the firm had an improper relationship with one of the company’s former attorneys.

  • July 18, 2025

    W.R. Grace Trust, Asbestos Suit Parties Resolve Tort Actions

    MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana granted motions to voluntarily dismiss two tort cases by Libby, Mont., residents who sued the WRG Asbestos Personal Injury Trust after failing to meet the requirements for a claim.

  • July 18, 2025

    Judge Grants Dismissal Of Action Alleging ‘Egregious’ Talc Witness Contact

    LOS ANGELES — A California judge granted a company’s request for dismissal without prejudice of its action claiming an asbestos plaintiff-side law firm violated legal rules by improperly contacting, and taking a statement from, a corporate witness without the knowledge or consent of his counsel.

  • July 17, 2025

    Parties Wrap Briefing In J&J Talc Asset Transfer Case

    TRENTON, N.J. — Plaintiffs allege that various transfers and attempts at bankruptcy moved Johnson & Johnson assets around but never assert that the moves left insufficient funds to pay asbestos-talc claims, Johnson & Johnson entities tell a federal judge in New Jersey in a reply to a motion to dismiss rebutting plaintiffs’ argument that they have standing to pursue their claims.

  • July 16, 2025

    Magistrate Judge: Admission By J&J Spinoff That Talc Contains Asbestos Not Needed

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Virginia federal magistrate judge has determined that plaintiff-side experts whose scientific study shows a connection between talc use and asbestos disease cannot conduct discovery in a trade libel suit filed against them by Johnson & Johnson spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC to determine whether the company knew that repeated exposure to cosmetic talc can cause mesothelioma.

  • July 16, 2025

    Connecticut Court Rejects Jurisdiction Over Canadian Firm In Asbestos Talc Case

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut judge dismissed asbestos-related claims against Canadian company Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL), ruling that the court lacks jurisdiction due to insufficient evidence linking the company’s activities to the state.

  • July 16, 2025

    4th Circuit Dismisses Asbestos Subpoena Appeal; Sanction Issue For Trial Court

    RICHMOND, Va. — An appeal of a ruling finding that a third-party subpoena imposed an undue burden on a medical provider was mooted by dismissal of the underlying asbestos case, and while the parties still disagree about the appropriateness of the resulting sanctions, that issue is not before the court, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a mandate dismissing the appeal.

  • July 15, 2025

    Judge Won’t Revisit Asbestos Rulings; Parties Can Brief Yearsley

    SHREVEPORT, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana declined to reconsider two rulings denying summary judgment in nuclear weapons specialist’s asbestos case but said unresolved issues can be addressed in future briefing on immunity under Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Const. Co., 309 U.S. 18, 20 (1940).

  • July 15, 2025

    EPA Withdraws Motion To Stay Challenge To Asbestos Ban Rule

    NEW ORLEANS — The Environmental Protection Agency withdrew its motion seeking a six-month stay of challenges to a rule banning the last remaining uses of chrysotile asbestos in the United States, saying it no longer intends to conduct notice-and-comment rulemaking and would instead proposed an Aug. 8 deadline for motions governing further proceedings.

  • July 15, 2025

    Summary Judgment Motions Granted For Insurer, Shipbuilder In Asbestos Coverage Row

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge granted separate motions filed by a former shipbuilder and by the purported insurer for the shipbuilder’s prior executive officers seeking summary judgment in a mesothelioma patient’s asbestos liability suit against numerous parties, including a now-insolvent insurer, finding that the unopposed motions and the record establish “that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact.”

  • July 10, 2025

    Experts Must Produce Names Of Meso Study Subjects To J&J Spinoff, Magistrate Says

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Plaintiffs’ asbestos experts accused of trade libel by Johnson & Johnson spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC must produce the names of mesothelioma study participants because their identities “are relevant, proportional to the needs of the case, and are not privileged,” a Virginia federal magistrate judge ruled.

  • July 08, 2025

    J&J Entities Say No Injury In Talc Asset Transfer Case

    TRENTON, N.J. — Having successfully defeated bankruptcy attempts by arguing that there were sufficient funds to pay asbestos-talc claims, plaintiffs cannot now argue that fraudulent transfers have placed assets outside their reach, Johnson & Johnson entities tell a federal judge in New Jersey in seeking dismissal.

  • July 08, 2025

    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.

  • July 07, 2025

    California Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Pipe Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California jury returned a verdict for a company battling an asbestos-pipe case, finding that while the company’s product contained potentially knowable risks, an ordinary customer would have recognized them and that the defendant’s failure to warn about them was not a substantial factor in the man’s mesothelioma.

  • July 07, 2025

    Judge: Asbestos Case May Fall Within ‘Twilight Zone’; Family May Clarify Claims

    NEW ORLEANS — Because a man allegedly suffered asbestos exposures in the 1970s, his survivors’ claims might fall within the “twilight zone” of concurrent jurisdiction for Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) claims, a federal judge in Louisiana said in denying a motion to dismiss and granting leave to amend to clarify claims.  The plaintiffs were later granted an extension of time to file their amended action.

  • July 07, 2025

    Pennsylvania Court: Fiber Drift Theory Can’t Save Asbestos Laundry Case

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Evidence that a company installed an asbestos-containing furnace in a separate room from where a man worked and citation to the fiber drift theory are not sufficient evidence on which to create liability based on laundering the man’s work clothing, a Pennsylvania court said in an unpublished opinion affirming a summary judgment ruling.

  • July 07, 2025

    Judge Denies Intervention, Dismisses Asbestos Suit By Family Members

    FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Two individuals who were not appointed as representatives of a man’s estate cannot maintain a wrongful death action on his behalf, a federal judge in Indiana said in denying a motion to intervene and granting a motion to dismiss.

  • July 07, 2025

    San Diego: City Can’t Conceal What Employees Already Knew About Asbestos

    SAN DIEGO — San Diego couldn’t have concealed from employees their own complaints about potential asbestos exposures during a building renovation, and the workers’ compensation system is therefore the exclusive remedy, the city tells a California appeals court.