Category: New Jersey

Appeal / New Jersey
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New Jersey Supreme Court Reverses Appellate Division and Reinstates Plaintiff’s Verdict

New Jersey Supreme Court, June 30, 2022

In this asbestos action, decedent Willis Edenfield (“Edenfield”) commenced a failure to warn product liability action against defendant Union Carbide. The Appellate Division vacated the jury’s verdict for Plaintiff and remanded for a new trial. However, the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division’s  decision. The Supreme Court found that there were two important contentions at issue.

The Supreme Court explained that this matter is “governed by our common law jurisprudence on product liability.”  As per Whelan…

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Appeal / Discovery / New Jersey
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Final Judgment and Imposition of Sanctions Affirmed Against Automotive Defendant

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, March 24, 2022

In this asbestos action, Deborah Marino (the plaintiff) alleged that her mother, Anita Creutzberger (the decedent), developed peritoneal mesothelioma from the decedent’s history of washing her husband’s and son’s clothing following their automotive work.  The plaintiff sued Ford Motor Company, among other defendants. During discovery in an unrelated case, Matthew Fyie, Ford’s employee designated to search for responsive discovery, testified that he did not review documents prior to his deposition as there were no documents …

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New Jersey
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Court Allows Parties to Conduct Jurisdictional Discovery Following Product Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, July 15, 2021

Plaintiff Paul Klick III was diagnosed with mesothelioma which he attributes to his exposure to asbestos while serving in the Air Force. The plaintiff contends he was exposed to asbestos through his work involving Abex products while he was stationed in Maine.

Following the plaintiff’s filing of this lawsuit in New Jersey, the matter was removed to federal court on the basis of federal officer jurisdiction. Defendant Abex filed a motion to dismiss …

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New Jersey / Personal Jurisdiction
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Aircraft Manufacturer Granted Motion to Dismiss Due to Lack of Specific Personal Jurisdiction

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, June 28, 2021

Paul Klick III (the plaintiff) was diagnosed with mesothelioma on or about July 17, 2020, after allegedly being exposed to asbestos while serving in the United States Air Force between 1967 and 1971. Among other things, the plaintiff alleged that he breathed the airborne dust created from mechanics under his direct supervision maintaining, removing and installing asbestos-containing friction and insulation products on Boeing aircrafts, B-52G and KC-135A. The plaintiff’s work involving Boeing products …

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Appeal / New Jersey
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New Jersey Supreme Court Affirms Manufacturer Liability for Third-Party Asbestos-Containing Component Parts

This case was initially filed in Middlesex County, NJ by the plaintiff in 2014. The plaintiff, Arthur Whelan, alleged he contracted mesothelioma from working on products manufactured by defendants, including original asbestos-containing components and asbestos-containing replacement components manufactured by other entities. At the summary judgment stage, the defendants argued the plaintiff could not establish that his exposure to asbestos was the result of any product they manufactured or distributed. Further, they denied any liability for the plaintiff’s exposure to asbestos-containing replacement parts that they did …

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Damages / New Jersey
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Plaintiffs Awarded $750 Million Punitive Damages in Talc Trial

NEW JERSEY – In a case previously covered by the Asbestos Case Tracker, the plaintiffs were awarded $750 million during the punitive damages portion of the trial. The jury had already awarded $37.2 million in compensatory damages, and per New Jersey law, the punitive damages were reduced to $186 million, five times the compensatory award.  As further details emerge, we will update this post.…

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New Jersey
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New Jersey Supreme Court Reverses the Appellate Division’s Prior Ruling in Rowe Creating a Positive Light for Asbestos Defendants

On September 11, 2019, the New Jersey Supreme Court returned a defense friendly decision in Donna Rowe v. Bell & Gossett Co. et al. The supreme court overruled the Appellate Division of New Jersey in a decision, which would have negatively affected trial defendants’ ability to allocate fault to settled defendants.

The decedent, Ronald Rowe who suffered from mesothelioma, sued 27 defendants who allegedly caused his illness. The defendants varied from manufacturers of friction products, boilers, pumps, valves, and other companies. On the eve …

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Kentucky / New Jersey / South Carolina
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Talc Verdicts Remain a Mixed Bag in Second Half of 2019

In May 2019, we reported on the state of talc litigation following eye-popping verdicts in Missouri in July 2018 that saw Johnson & Johnson hit with $550 million in compensatory damages and over $4 billion dollars in punitive damages in 22 consolidated ovarian cancer cases. With hundreds of mesothelioma cases pending, alleging exposure to asbestos-contaminated talc and enormous damages potentially at stake, a further update is warranted. The last five months have seen several verdicts, and while it’s clear that talc asbestos cases are defensible, …

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New Jersey / Personal Jurisdiction
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Talc Defendant’s Appeal of Personal Jurisdiction Denial Dismissed

NEW JERSEY – After a lengthy discussion of corporate successor liability and the histories of the companies at bar, a New Jersey appellate court ultimately determined that the factual record was too incomplete to resolve questions regarding jurisdiction, and dismissed an appeal of the trial court’s order denying talc defendant Cyprus Amax Minerals Company (Cyprus) personal jurisdiction motion. Ohio resident Linda Huff had sued two Delaware corporations, Imerys Talc America, Inc. and Cyprus in New Jersey state court, alleging that their talc was incorporated into …

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New Jersey
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New Jersey Jury Renders $37.3 Million Dollar Verdict Against Johnson and Johnson in Consolidated Talc Cases

NEW JERSEY – A New Jersey jury returned a verdict in the amount of $37.3 million dollars against Johnson and Johnson for combined compensatory damages brought by four mesothelioma claimants. The verdict came after three days of deliberations in a trial that lasted almost two months. The jury was tasked with determining whether Johnson and Johnson’s talc products contained asbestos and whether the plaintiffs’ exposures were a substantial contributing factor in causing their peritoneal mesothelioma. The jury also heard testimony over differing positions regarding asbestos …

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