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Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

  • May 20, 2025

    Panel Finds No Error In Lower Court’s Coverage Determinations In Asbestos Suit

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A trial court did not err in making coverage determinations based on two policies produced by a receiver who was appointed to manage asbestos bodily injury claims filed against an insured, because the insurer failed to submit any evidence to support its argument that some of the policies’ terms changed over the years and were not identical to the two policies produced by the receiver, the South Carolina Court of Appeals said.

  • May 20, 2025

    Parties To Libby, Mont., Fraudulent Claim Verdict Brief Attorney Fee Award

    MISSOULA, Mont. — Parties to Libby, Mont., fraudulent screening diagnosis case responded to a judge’s request for briefing on a pending motion for attorney fees in the wake of what the judge termed “significant developments” since the $1.4 million judgment against the medical provider for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims under a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) program specifically designed for the asbestos-plagued town.

  • May 20, 2025

    Confirmation Hearing Paused For Talks Among Imerys Asbestos Talc Debtors

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge paused the confirmation hearings for the global reorganization plan of asbestos talc debtors Imerys Talc America Inc., Cyprus Mines Corp. and Imerys Talc Italy S.p.A. so the companies can “continue on a resolution of the ‘foreign claims’ issue” that was raised by the recent inclusion of their Italian affiliate in the joint Chapter 11 case.

  • May 16, 2025

    Meso Claimants, Asbestos Debtor Jointly Drop Appeal Due To Expected Settlement

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on May 15 approved a joint stipulation to dismiss an appeal by mesothelioma claimants over a bankruptcy court’s approval of an injunction that bars asbestos claims as part of an $18 million settlement between Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. and excess insurers.

  • May 15, 2025

    Third-Party Hospital: Ignore Tactics In Asbestos Spat, Impose Sanctions

    NEW YORK — Calling an asbestos defendant’s argument in briefing a “desperation tactic” that is both “immature and unprofessional,” a third-party hospital says in a reply brief that a New York federal court should impose sanctions for the undue burden and expense the defendant’s voluntary actions caused.

  • May 15, 2025

    Bankruptcy Judge Asks District Court To Decide If Asbestos Was In Debtor’s Talc

    HOUSTON — A Texas federal district court should decide the threshold question of whether any of the talc sold by BMI Oldco Inc. actually contained asbestos, before the talc mining company’s Chapter 11 case can go any further, the U.S. bankruptcy judge overseeing the case said in a May 14 report and recommendation issued sua sponte.

  • May 13, 2025

    Insurers Seek Changes In Chapter 11 Liquidation Plan Of Avon Affiliates

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge should not approve the disclosure statement for the Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for the U.S. divisions of cosmetics giant Avon unless the debtors correct their proposed plan voting and solicitation procedures and confirmation schedule to allow more time for review of the plan, the debtors’ insurers say in a May 12 objection to the plan and two joinders.

  • May 09, 2025

    Old Asbestos Trust Claim Bars Claim Of Surviving Son, Bankruptcy Judge Says

    CINCINNATI — The son of a man who died from mesothelioma after receiving a payment in 2001 from an asbestos trust in settlement of a nonmalignancy claim cannot have a malignancy claim for his father’s mesothelioma reviewed by the trust because the father’s settlement released the trust from future liability and the son sought review too late, an Ohio federal bankruptcy judge ruled.

  • May 09, 2025

    Ship Subcontractor Seeks Approvals For Bankruptcy Plan, Disclosure Statement

    RICHMOND, Va. — Defunct ship subcontractor and Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. and an asbestos claimants’ committee filed a joint motion asking a Virginia federal bankruptcy judge to schedule a combined hearing to approve the disclosure statement for its proposed plan of reorganization and consider confirmation of the plan, which would establish a trust with insurance proceeds and cash “to allow for resolution of the thousands of asbestos claims against Hopeman.”

  • May 08, 2025

    Canadian Court Grants Asbestos Corp. Protection As It Attempts Restructuring

    THETFORD MINES, Quebec — A Canadian court on May 7 granted an application to apply legal protections to Asbestos Corp. Ltd. as the company filed a Chapter 15 bankruptcy in U.S. court in the hopes of restructuring.

  • May 07, 2025

    Asbestos Corp. Seeks Canadian Law Protections As It Attempts Restructuring

    THETFORD MINES, Quebec — Asbestos Corp. Ltd. and its parent company announced May 6 that they would ask a court for legal protection under Canadian law as they attempt to restructure.

  • May 06, 2025

    Defendant: New Discovery Shows Moline’s Talc-Only Study Was False

    NEW YORK — Recent revelations show the identities of participants in asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline’s study on causation were always relevant but were withheld in an effort to further a litigation scheme, and the court should deny a motion for sanctions and instead award costs and fees associated with attempts to obtain what is now clearly relevant and discoverable evidence, an asbestos-talc defendant told a federal judge in New York on May 5.

  • May 06, 2025

    Kaiser/Hanson Permanente Trust Reports 91 Asbestos Claims Settled In 2024

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Kaiser Gypsum Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, established in 2021 by the confirmed reorganization plan of Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum and affiliate Hanson Permanente Cement Inc., settled 91 claims last year for a total of $248,400, according to the trust’s 2024 annual report filed in North Carolina federal bankruptcy court.

  • May 01, 2025

    J&J Affiliate Says New Evidence Shows Fraud By Asbestos Talc Study Author

    TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC says in a motion filed in New Jersey federal court seeking to revive its dismissed trade libel and fraud action against the author of a scientific study that it now has ample evidence to prove that the study’s conclusion that the mesothelioma of each of the 33 participants had to be caused by their talc use is false.

  • May 01, 2025

    J&J Entity Seeks Study Participants; Judge Won’t Reconsider Dismissal Ruling

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A federal judge on April 30 denied a motion for reconsideration of his ruling that a Johnson & Johnson entity adequately alleged that experts’ study linking mesothelioma to consumer talc disparaged the company and its products.  In a separate development, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Pecos River Talc LLC asked a federal judge to compel the three asbestos experts to produce the identities of 75 study participants who reportedly developed mesothelioma solely after exposure to consumer talc products, saying that the evidence is necessary to the prosecution of its injurious falsehood claim and that no privacy issue or law precludes identification.

  • April 30, 2025

    On Remand From Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Approves Kaiser Debtors’ Reorganization

    RICHMOND, Va. — The plan of reorganization of Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. was proposed in good faith and satisfies the asbestos bankruptcy requirements of Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 29 in affirming the plan’s confirmation on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • April 30, 2025

    U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Will Not Reconsider Dismissal Of Red River Talc Case

    HOUSTON — A Texas federal bankruptcy judge refused several requests to reconsider his dismissal of the Chapter 11 case of the latest Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff, Red River Talc LLC, and denial of confirmation of the debtor’s plan of reorganization, saying in a two-page order that the requirements for reconsideration were not met.

  • April 24, 2025

    J&J Entity Wants Talc-Only Meso Study Participants Revealed

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Pecos River Talc LLC asked a federal judge to compel three asbestos experts to produce the identities of 75 study participants who reportedly developed mesothelioma solely after exposure to consumer talc products, saying the evidence is necessary to the prosecution of its injurious falsehood claim and that no privacy issue or law precludes identification.

  • April 23, 2025

    Judge Adopts Report And Settlements, Dismisses Insurers In Asbestos Coverage Row

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s combined report and recommendation to settle estates’ claims with insurers and dismiss the claims against them in four similar suits filed by the estates of people who died purportedly from asbestos exposure, seeking payment of judgments entered against an asbestos mine, finding no error in the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation.

  • April 23, 2025

    Parties Agree Asbestos Subpoena Appeal Moot, Lay Out Paths For Sanction Ruling

    RICHMOND, Va. — A medical provider and an asbestos defendant in briefing agreed that dismissal of an asbestos case mooted the appeal of a ruling quashing a subpoena but offered the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal different paths forward on the remaining issue of sanctions.

  • April 22, 2025

    Court Seeks Response To Nonparty’s Sanction Request In Dismissed Asbestos Case

    NEW YORK — Dismissal of an asbestos-talc action does not moot a request for attorney fees as a sanction for repeated subpoenas and litigation against a third party, a New York federal magistrate judge said in ordering asbestos-talc defendant American International Industries (AII) to respond to a hospital operator’s motion.

  • April 18, 2025

    Asbestos Tort Targets Ask Delaware Court To Enjoin Trust Document Destruction

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A CertainTeed LLC affiliate and various Johnson & Johnson entities asked a Delaware judge to enjoin the destruction of asbestos bankruptcy trust documents they say are relevant to current and future cases.  In the wake of the motion the Delaware Chancery Court on April 17 set a hearing on a motion to expedite consideration.

  • April 18, 2025

    California Supreme Court Grants Motion To Dismiss Genetic Testing Petition

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on April 17 granted an unopposed motion to dismiss a petition for review contending that a trial court improperly evaluated a motion to conduct simple and potentially conclusive genetic testing in a mesothelioma sufferer’s asbestos case under the standard for admissibility when it should have done so under the standard for relevance.

  • April 18, 2025

    Pipe Maker: ‘Insider’ Evidence Shows Asbestos Trust Fraud, Attorney Bounty Programs

    CHICAGO — Newly revealed “insider” evidence of fraudulent claims, bounty programs, obstruction of justice and efforts at defrauding asbestos bankruptcy trusts warrants amending a judgment dismissing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims against a law firm and attorneys, pipe manufacturer J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. told a federal judge in Illinois.

  • April 18, 2025

    Evidence, Expert Rulings Led To $18M Asbestos Verdict, Brake Machine Firm Says

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida circuit court judge’s improper admission of an unauthenticated video the plaintiff found online titled “Don’t Blow It” that included references to uncited studies and articles by actors and was hearsay, and other rulings involving experts, jury instructions and attempts to cure comments made during closing arguments led to an $18 million asbestos verdict, a brake grinding machine manufacturer tells the court in a motion for a new trial. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.