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Conoco Phillips appeals worker’s $15.2M verdict

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46186508

 

Conoco Phillips appeals worker’s $15.2M verdict

By JACK ELLIOTT JR.

1/30/2012 

JACKSON, Miss.— A Jones County man waited too long to file a lawsuit over exposure his exposure to workplace asbestos, attorneys told the Mississippi Supreme Court on Monday.

The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments from Conoco Phillips Corp., which has appealed a $15.2 million jury award to an oil well drilling worker who alleged he got lung disease from exposure to asbestos.

J. Jeffrey Trotter of Ridgeland, an attorney representing Conoco Phillips, told the court that Troy Lofton waited for nearly a decade to file his lawsuit. Trotter said Lofton was diagnosed with a lung ailment as early as 1993. The three-year statute of limitations began counting down in 1993, Trotter said, when Lofton discovered he had an injury — not 10 years later when he learned what caused the ailment.

Trotter said Lofton sued only after he was told that his ailment was related to exposure to asbestos.

[Article continues at original source]

 

Filed Under: Law

U.S. district court approves W.R. Grace’s reorganization plan

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/wrgrace-reorganization-idUSL4E8CV6X720120131

 

U.S. district court approves W.R. Grace’s reorganization plan

Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:52am EST

Jan 31 (Reuters) – W. R. Grace & Co said its reorganization plan has been approved by the U.S. district court of Delaware, clearing a major hurdle for the chemical and building products maker to emerge from its decade-long bankruptcy protection.

Grace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2001, weighed down by asbestos-related claims. A bankruptcy court confirmed its reorganization plan exactly a year ago.

The reorganization plan calls for setting up two asbestos trusts to compensate personal injury claimants and property owners, Grace said in a statement on Tuesday.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Claims, Law

Company seeks asbestos liability limit in Idaho

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46181670

Company seeks asbestos liability limit in Idaho

    By JOHN MILLER

    2012-01-29T17:13:02

BOISE, Idaho— A national bottle-top maker that’s grown weary of some $700 million in asbestos claims it’s paid out to victims of lung disease has arrived in the Idaho Legislature as part of its years-long, state-by-state trudge to shield itself from forking over more cash.

Pennsylvania-based Crown Holdings, whose products include the tops of soda pop and beer containers, has gotten help from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed conservative nonprofit, to broaden limits on asbestos claims against it stemming from an ill-fated acquisition nearly 50 years ago.

Together, they’ve succeeded in winning legislative protections in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Claims, Law

State appeals court reverses $1.5 million award in asbestos case

January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.wisbar.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=108523

State appeals courtreverses $1.5million award in asbestos case

The estate of a man who died from malignant mesothelioma did not produce enough evidence to prove he was exposed to the asbestos-containing brake shoes supplied by the defendant.

By Joe Forward, Legal Writer, State Bar of Wisconsin

State appeals court reverses $1.5 million award in asbestos case Jan. 24, 2012 – In a recent decision, a Wisconsin appeals court reversed a $1.5 million damages award against a brake-shoe supplier whose product contained asbestos, concluding the evidence was insufficient to prove causation.

John Pender worked as a painter and glass setter for 41 years, from 1952 to 1993. In 2006, he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and died shortly thereafter.

Pender’s estate sued various product manufacturers based on negligence and strict products liability, claiming the products they supplied to Pender’s employer, Harnischfeger Corp., contained asbestos that created an asbestos-laden dust when the brake shoes were grinded.

Pneumo Abex LLC, a brake shoe supplier, was one of the manufacturers. Abex did not dispute that its product contained asbestos. But in Estate of John Pender v. Pneumo Abex LLC, (Jan. 18, 2012), the District I Wisconsin Court of Appeals agreed with Abex that the estate did not produce sufficient evidence to prove Pender had actual exposure to Abex’s product.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Law, Lawsuits

Union Carbide Asbestos Verdict Erased by Mississippi Judge

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-03/union-carbide-asbestos-verdict-overturned-by-mississippi-court.html

Union Carbide Asbestos Verdict Erased by Mississippi Judge

By Laurence Viele Davidson – Jan 3, 2012 4:31 PM ET

A $322 million jury verdict in an asbestos case against Dow Chemical Co. (DOW)’s Union Carbide unit and Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. was overturned by a Mississippi judge.

The companies asked the state Supreme Court to overturn the verdict, saying Smith County Circuit Judge Eddie Bowen had a conflict of interest because his parents had asbestos legal claims, including one against Union Carbide.

The state’s high court removed Bowen from the case last year. His replacement, Special Judge William F. Coleman, said on Dec. 22 that the companies’ request to remove Bowen and vacate the verdict were “well taken and should be granted.”

The May 4, 2011 verdict was the largest ever made to a single asbestos case plaintiff, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. State punitive-damages restrictions would have reduced the verdict by at least $260 million. Coleman’s order doesn’t include information on a new trial. The jury award was the ninth-largest in the U.S. overall in 2011, according to Bloomberg data.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Law, Lawsuits

Asbestos blamed for death of Cumbrian man, 59

December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/asbestos-blamed-for-death-of-59-year-old-1.907376

Asbestos blamed for death of Cumbrian man, 59

By Phil Coleman

Friday, 16 December 2011

A Cumbrian man this week become the latest person in the county whose premature death has been put down his exposure to asbestos.

Lawyers said that the family of James MacKenzie, who was just 59 when he died from mesothelioma, will continue to fight for justice.

At an inquest in Carlisle, north and west Cumbria coroner David Roberts ruled that Mr MacKenzie, of Hadrian’s Avenue, Anthorn, near Wigton, died as a result of contracting an industrial disease after exposure to asbestos dust.

Mr MacKenzie’s health problems came after working at a Carlisle building firm between 1969 and 1972. As an apprentice, he was exposed to dust from sheets of asbestos as it was cut.

Mr MacKenzie became ill in August last year and two months later, after further medical investigation, doctors diagnosed malignant mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung invariably caused by exposure to asbestos dust.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Law

Hugs caused cancer – claim

December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.lep.co.uk/news/health/hugs_caused_cancer_claim_1_4066420

Hugs caused cancer – claim

 

Published on Friday 16 December 2011

A dying woman who developed cancer after hugging her father as a child has launched a legal battle for £200,000 compensation.

Valerie Addison, 55, has contracted malignant mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissues surrounding her lungs, after hugging her father who worked with asbestos in Preston.

Now Mrs Addison, who has been given just months to live, is suing five companies for damages and says she has lost 34 years of life expectancy.

Deadly asbestos dust and fibres entered her body when she hugged her father Kenneth Wignall, when he wore clothes contaminated with asbestos.

He was not able to shower at work before coming home, and her mother handled, shook out, and washed his work clothes at home, she says. Mrs Addison says she was also driven by her father in his van, which contained lagging and asbestos materials.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Claims, Exposure

Mesothelioma victims take fight for compensation to the Supreme Court

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/12/06/mesothelioma-victims-take-fight-for-compensation-to-the-supreme-court-92534-29900776/

Mesothelioma victims take fight for compensation to the Supreme Court

A TEST case with major implications for asbestos-related cancer sufferers on Merseyside is now under way at the UK’s highest court of appeal.

Hundreds of victims of mesothelioma – Britain’s biggest industrial killer – are fighting the latest attempt by insurers to avoid paying compensation.

In arguably the most important test case ever heard about mesothelioma claims, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal by the Independent Insurance Company, who have refused to pay a Lancashire woman, Joan Eddleston, the compensation she was awarded by a judge many years ago.

[Article continues at original source]

Filed Under: Claims, Law, Lawsuits

BBC News – Legislation due on asbestos-related pleural plaques

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16033887

Legislation due on asbestos-related pleural plaques

December 5, 2011

People suffering from the asbestos-related lung condition pleural plaques will be able to seek compensation from next week due to new legislation.

 

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson said the legislation to allow workers to pursue claims would become effective from 14 December.

The executive has already set aside £2.5m for claims.

The legislation reverses a House of Lords decision of 2007 which ruled victims could not claim compensation.

Similar legislation in Scotland was the subject of a long-running challenge initiated by insurers, which went before the UK Supreme Court.

On 12 October this year, the Supreme Court rejected the insurers’ claims that the legislation infringed their human rights and was outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

“The challenge to the corresponding legislation in Scotland cast a long shadow and I fought hard to get the Northern Ireland legislation through the assembly and submitted for royal assent,” Mr Wilson said.

“However, I always believed that the policy objectives of the act were just and fair and that belief has now been vindicated by the ruling of the UK Supreme Court in relation to the Scottish legislation.

“The 2011 act may be short and targeted, but it is a vitally important act, which seeks to ensure the continued availability of a method of redress for ordinary working men and women.”

Pleural plaques – small areas of benign scarring on the lungs- are not themselves a disease and have no symptoms, but the thickening of lung membranes is an indicator of past exposure to asbestos.

They signify an increased risk of developing the disease mesothelioma.

Filed Under: Claims

Letter to the Editor: U.S. Chamber ignores asbestos deaths

December 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quoted from http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202533426906&Letter_to_the_Editor_US_Chamber_ignores_asbestos_deaths&slreturn=1

Letter to the Editor: U.S. Chamber ignores asbestos deaths

The National Law Journal

November 28, 2011

In a recent op-ed, “Never-ending asbestos quagmire” [NLJ, Nov. 7], the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform really let its true colors show. While presenting baseless claims attacking the asbestos trust system to further protect its corporate financers, the Chamber fails to once mention the tens of thousands of Americans who have been killed by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos trusts were created by Congress to protect the interests of Americans suffering from asbestos exposure. The Chamber claims the trusts are both lacking transparency and rampant with fraud, yet a Government Accountability Office report released last month, commissioned by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) (most likely at the request of the Chamber itself), found the exact opposite, a stunning rebuke. From the 47 trusts that the GAO reviewed, all of their annual financial reports included the total amount of payments made by the trusts. Most included the total number of claims received and paid, while also having robust audit programs in place. Additionally, asbestos defendants can readily obtain additional information related to trusts or claimants through direct requests to the trust or by way of court-ordered subpoenas.

Asbestos-related diseases continue to kill 10,000 Americans each year, most within one or two years after diagnosis. Unbelievably, this poison is still legal in the United States. The Chamber’s opinion piece, failing to once mention the death and destruction caused by asbestos, made it painfully obvious where its allegiances lie — with corporations that continue to poison Americans and hope to never be held accountable for it.

Gary M. Paul
Washington

The writer is the president of the American Association for Justice.

Filed Under: Claims, Facts
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