Mesothelioma patients deserve better than wasteful legal games

Quoted from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120422,0,1097806.column

Mesothelioma victims deserve better than wasteful legal maneuvers

The macabre zero-sum game squanders millions of dollars and blights the mesothelioma patients’ final days. The obvious alternative is to deal with asbestos claims administratively.

John Johnson

A video still shows John Johnson during the 12th day of his deposition in his asbestos-exposure lawsuit. Johnson collapsed within 40 minutes of answering the final question, and he died the next day. (April 19, 2012)

 

By Michael Hiltzik

April 22, 2012

 

John Johnson died three months ago, his body racked with malignant mesothelioma, a disease that’s almost always caused by asbestos exposure. The Marine veteran had sued dozens of companies he believed shared responsibility for his condition, but he never got his day in court.

Here’s the horrific question now: Did asbestos industry lawyers deliberately drive Johnson to his death by putting him through a brutal series of depositions so their clients would save money?

That’s what his family, his doctor and his lawyers assert. Despite affidavits from his doctor stating that 12 hours of depositions over a few weeks would be about as much as the 69-year-old’s health could stand, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge allowed the companies he was suing a total of 25 hours.

Johnson put off returning to the hospital so he could appear at every session, including the last, on Jan. 23. His face contorted in pain, he gasped out answers to questions from the last of the dozens of defense attorneys in attendance. Less than 40 minutes later, he collapsed.

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Pfizer Isn’t Shielded From Some Asbestos Claims, Court Rules

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-10/pfizer-isn-t-shielded-from-some-asbestos-claims-court-rules.html

Pfizer Isn’t Shielded From Some Asbestos Claims, Court Rules

By Tiffany Kary and Bob Van Voris – Apr 10, 2012 1:48 PM ET

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) isn’t entitled to protection from some asbestos claims related to its non- operating bankrupt Quigley Co. unit, according to a federal appeals court ruling.

Quigley, founded in 1916, made three products for the steel industry from the 1940s to the 1970s that contained asbestos. Pfizer bought Quigley in 1968, and the company stopped most operations in 1992, filing for bankruptcy in 2004. Pfizer has said it never made or sold any Quigley products, and some claimants hadn’t released Pfizer from alleged “derivative liability.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein that found Quigley’s bankruptcy barred certain lawsuits against Pfizer. A May 2011 decision in district court reversed the order, and Pfizer had appealed that ruling.

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New judge revamps asbestos court: U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauds end of ‘asbestos lawsuit futures market’

Quoted from http://www.bnd.com/2012/03/31/2122921/new-judge-revamps-asbestos-court.html

New judge revamps asbestos court: U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauds end of ‘asbestos lawsuit futures market’

BY KEVIN BERSETT Belleville News-Democrat

Saturday, Mar. 31, 2012

A Madison County judge has ended a system that allowed plaintiff firms in asbestos cases to reserve trial dates before a case had even been filed.

Associate Judge Clarence Harrison’s order Thursday overturned a preliminary order assigning 2013 trial slots that was signed last year by Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder. Crowder was removed from the asbestos docket after her campaign received $30,000 in donations from three plaintiff firms that were awarded the majority of next year’s trial slots.

“The court finds no continuing need for the pre-assignment of trial settings,” Harrison wrote.

Harrison’s order calls for trials to be set by motion on a case-by-case basis and preference to be given to the elderly and the dying.

Harrison could not be reached for comment Friday. Chief Judge Ann Callis would not comment on the order other than to confirm that it followed a hearing Monday at which plaintiff and defense lawyers gave their views on the issue.

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Secondhand asbestos suit sent back to Madison County

Quoted from http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/235610-secondhand-asbestos-suit-sent-back-to-madison-county

  story date

Secondhand asbestos suit sent back to Madison County

BY ANN MAHER

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012 1:38:00 PM

 

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) – The Illinois Supreme Court has remanded a secondhand asbestos exposure case to Madison County to decide whether CSX Transportation had a duty of care to a railroad worker’s wife who suffered from mesothelioma.

In a 4-2 split decision where conservative justices sided with the injured plaintiff and liberal justices sided with the accused business, the high court upheld the Fifth District which had reversed former Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack’s decision to dismiss Annette Simpkins’ lawsuit, for different reasons involving duty.

Justice Rita Garman, for the majority, wrote that the court cannot assess the existence of a duty without further facts.

“Because foreseeability is such an integral factor to the existence of duty and because the weight to be accorded to that foreseeability (as well as to the other factors) depends on the particular circumstances of the case, without more detailed pleadings we cannot determine whether, if all well-pled facts are taken as true, a duty of care ran from defendant to plaintiff in this case,” Garman wrote.

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US High Court Blocks Asbestos Injury Lawsuit In Locomotive Case

Quoted from http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120229-714112.html

 

US High Court Blocks Asbestos Injury Lawsuit In Locomotive Case

By Brent Kendall Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that railroad maintenance workers can’t bring state-law personal injury lawsuits against locomotive equipment manufacturers for alleged asbestos-related injuries.

The court, in an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, said such lawsuits are preempted by a federal rail-safety law, the Locomotive Inspection Act.

The ruling barred a Pennsylvania lawsuit by the family of a railroad worker allegedly exposed to asbestos while working with locomotive brake shoes and insulation. The employee, George Corson, died after the lawsuit was filed.

The Corson family originally sued several defendants, though many were no longer a part of the case. Two remaining defendants were Railroad Friction Products Corp., a subsidiary of Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp., and Viad Corp. (VVI).

Lawyers for the Corson family had argued a ruling for the companies could leave injured rail workers without legal remedies against equipment manufacturers. The Obama administration had filed a legal brief supporting rail workers’ right to sue, at least in some circumstances.

General Electric Co. (GE), a leading manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, and the National Association of Manufacturers were among several trade groups and companies that filed court briefs supporting the company defendants.

Three justices dissented in part to the court’s ruling. The dissenters would have allowed some of the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed.

The case is Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products Corp., 10-879.

 

Ex-Naval Ship Workers Sue Over Asbestos Claims

Quoted from http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2012/02/15/ex-naval-ship-workers-sue-over-asbestos-claims

  • February 15, 2012, 3:43 PM

Ex-Naval Ship Workers Sue Over Asbestos Claims

By Jacqueline Palank

Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Blog

Several people seeking compensation for diseases and death due to asbestos exposure on U.S. naval ships say those responsible for issuing payment are unfairly discriminating against them because they aren’t U.S. citizens.

The allegations form the basis for a newly filed lawsuit related to the 1982 bankruptcy of Johns Manville Corp., a manufacturer of building products that used Chapter 11 to resolve a wave of litigation by people claiming to have become ill from the asbestos in its products.

The latest suit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan bankruptcy court, concerns asbestos-related illnesses contracted by men from England, Greece and Malta who worked on active-duty U.S. warships docked in their home countries as well as in places like Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor and Virginia’s Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Some of the men died from their illnesses, which include malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and gastrointestinal cancer.

Each man (or his representative) filed a claim against a trust set up to compensate those who became ill from Johns Manville’s products. The men say their illnesses resulted from their exposure to the asbestos dust and fibers contained in Johns Manville products found in the U.S. naval ships’ boiler rooms, engine rooms and other confined areas. They say the trust has wrongly concluded that their exposure occurred off U.S. soil.

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N.C. couple names 73 defendants in asbestos case

Quoted from http://www.wvrecord.com/news/241783-n.c.-couple-names-73-defendants-in-asbestos-case

N.C. couple names 73 defendants in asbestos case

2/13/2012 8:33 AM

By Kyla Asbury -Kanawha Bureau

CHARLESTON — A Stanley, N.C., couple is suing 73 companies they claim are responsible for a mesothelioma diagnosis.

On Aug. 13, 2010, Sidney William Mauney was diagnosed with mesothelioma, according to a complaint filed Jan. 23 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Mauney claims he was exposed to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products during his employment as an insulator from 1956 until 1993.

The defendants knew or should have known that exposure to asbestos could cause harm to Mauney, according to the suit….

The 73 defendants named in the suit are 3M Company; A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Air & Liquid Systems Corporation; American Electric Power; American Electric Power Service Corporation; Appalachian Power Company; Bechtel Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Burlington Industries, Inc.; BW IP, Inc.; Carolina Power & Light Company; Carrier Corporation; Catalytic Construction Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.; Crane Co.; Crown, Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; F.B. Wright; Fluor Corporation; Flowserve US Inc., individually and as successor to Edward Valves Inc. and Nordstrom Valves, Inc.; Flowservc US, Inc. f/k/a Durco International, Inc.; Flowservc US, Inc. f/k/a Flowserve FSD Corporation; Fluor Enterprises, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Gordon Gasket & Packing Co.; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Company; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell, Inc.; I.U. North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; ITT Corporation; John Crane, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Corporation; McJunkin Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; National Service Industries Venture, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; O.C. Keckley Company; Oakfabco, Inc.; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; PPG Industries, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric; Spirax Sarco, Inc.; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Superior Boiler Works, Inc.; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; The Gage Company; The William Powell Company; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Conveyer Corporation; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Viking Pump, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Warren Pumps, Inc.; Weil-McLain Company; Yarway Corporation; Zenith Pumps; and Zurn Industries, Inc.

Widow in compensation bid over asbestos death

Quoted from http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/widow_in_compensation_bid_over_asbestos_death_1_3497585

Widow in compensation bid over asbestos death

Published on Thursday 9 February 2012 10:00

AN EASTBOURNE woman whose partner died from a cancer linked to asbestos has launched a legal battle for compensation of up to £150,000.

Gerald Giles, 81, died from malignant mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissues surrounding his lungs, after being exposed to asbestos to work.

Now his partner Marion Collins is demanding damages from his former employers Nicholls and Shoosmith, of Blackboys, Uckfield.

Mr Giles was exposed to deadly asbestos dust and fibres when he worked for the company as an apprentice carpenter in the 40s and 50s, according to a High Court writ.

He helped put up new asbestos corrugated roofs on garages, industrial buildings and farms, and ripped off old asbestos with a crowbar, dropping the pieces onto the ground where he smashed them up with a hammer and shovelled them into a truck, the writ says.

This produced clouds of asbestos dust, which hung around in the air, and asbestos dust and fibres covered his hair and clothes, it is alleged.

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Asbestos widow suing Alcoa

Quoted from http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/asbestos-widow-suing-alcoa-20120208-1re6s.html

Asbestos widow suing Alcoa

Daniel Fogarty

February 8, 2012 – 6:44PM

AAP

Aluminium producer Alcoa would have known of the dangers of asbestos when a man who has since died of mesothelioma worked with the substance at its Geelong plant in the 1960s, a court has been told.

David Grant, 82, had been an active, happy and outgoing man until about six months before he died in July 2010, the Victorian Supreme Court heard on Wednesday.

Mr Grant was exposed to asbestos dust and fibres while he worked on construction of the Alcoa Point Henry smelter plant between 1962 and 1964, his barrister Jack Rush, QC, told jurors.

Mr Grant’s widow Margaret Grant is suing Alcoa of Australia Limited for damages for loss of enjoyment of life and medical costs.

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State appeals court reverses $1.5 million award in asbestos case

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]

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