Category: Connecticut

The law concept background.
Connecticut / Punitive Damages
Posted by:

Court Awards $7.5 Million in Punitive Damages to Connecticut Plaintiff

Jurisdiction: Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Bridgeport at Bridgeport

Decedent Nicolas Barone was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May 2022. His surviving spouse, Kathryn Barone (plaintiff)brought suit in September 2023, following her husband’s death in June of that year. Plaintiff’s third amended complaint alleged the cause of plaintiff’s mesothelioma was asbestos exposure from talc supplied by defendant International Talc Company and its successor, Vanderbilt Minerals LLC. After a four-week trial, the jury reached a unanimous verdict and found Vanderbilt liable for a total of $15 million in …

Continue Reading
Close up of Male lawyer or judge hand's striking the gavel on sounding block, working with Law books, report the case on table in modern office, Law and justice concept
Connecticut / Personal Jurisdiction
Posted by:

Connecticut Court Determines it Lacks Personal Jurisdiction Over Talcum Powder Defendant

Court:  Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Bridgeport at Bridgeport

Connecticut resident Elaine Adelia Hickey (decedent) contracted mesothelioma alleging exposure to asbestos and asbestos-containing talcum products throughout her life. Decedent alleged she personally used talcum products on herself and her children from the 1950s to the 1970s and was also exposed to asbestos from her father’s work as an automobile mechanic from the 1970s to the 2000s. Decedent’s surviving spouse, Jacob Russell Herman Sr. (plaintiff), as executor of Decedent’s estate, brought suit against a number …

Continue Reading
Close up of Male lawyer or judge hand's striking the gavel on sounding block, working with Law books, report the case on table in modern office, Law and justice concept
Connecticut / Personal Jurisdiction
Posted by:

Product Manufacturer and Supplier’s Motion to Dismiss Granted for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Fairfield at Bridgeport, February 18, 2022

In this asbestos action, defendant Ametek, Inc. moved to dismiss the complaint by plaintiffs Maria and Carmelo Patti. The plaintiffs alleged that Mrs. Patti was exposed to asbestos from products manufactured and supplied by Ametek to her employer, Grieco Brothers, which caused her to develop mesothelioma.

The court undertook a two-part inquiry as is required under Connecticut law when a defendant moves to dismiss a complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. Specifically, …

Continue Reading
Judge gavel with lawyer and attorney meeting in law firm background. Concepts of law, legal advice,legal services.
Connecticut / Summary Judgment
Posted by:

Court Grants Summary Judgment to Turbine Manufacturer Due to Lack of Causation

CONNECTICUT – The plaintiff, Patricia Murray, alleged that the decedent was exposed to asbestos from products manufactured or marketed by multiple defendants, including CBS Corporation. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that there was insufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the decedent was exposed to asbestos from CBS’s products. The motion was unopposed.

The plaintiff’s claims of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and failure to warn all fall under the Connecticut Products Liability Act (CPLA). Causation is …

Continue Reading
Connecticut / Maritime/Admiralty Law / Summary Judgment
Posted by:

Lack of Admissible Evidence Against General Electric Leads to Grant of Summary Judgment in Maritime Meso Case

CONNECTICUT – The Carlson’s brought suit against several defendants including General Electric (GE) alleging that Kurt Carlson developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to the defendants’ asbestos-containing products while working as a radiological control technician for General Dynamics/Electric Boat Corp. from 1973-1974. The plaintiffs provided answers to interrogatories to GE. The answers did not list GE as the plaintiff’s employer or as a product to which he was exposed. The plaintiff was also deposed and did not name GE as a product to which …

Continue Reading
Connecticut
Posted by:

Supreme Court of Connecticut Applies Occupational Disease Exclusion to Claims by Employees of Companies Other Than Insured

CONNECTICUT – R.T. Vanderbilt Co., Inc. engaged in the mining and sale of various chemical and mineral products. Vanderbilt sold industrial talc from 1948 to 2008. In the past several decades, Vanderbilt has been named as defendant in thousands of lawsuits alleging personal injury through exposure to asbestos in talc and silica mined and sold by Vanderbilt. The company brought an insurance coverage action against several of its primary insurers related to their handling of claims related to such lawsuits, and the lawsuit grew to …

Continue Reading
Connecticut / Summary Judgment
Posted by:

Failure to Provide Expert Evidence in Conjunction with Exposure Testimony Leads to Grant of Summary Judgment

CONNECTICUT – The plaintiff alleged that the decedent, James Schmidt, was exposed to asbestos during the course of his various careers. The defendant CNH Industrial America (CNH) moved for summary judgement, which was denied on the basis of decedent’s deposition testimony that he worked on asbestos-containing bulldozers and excavators CNH moved for reconsideration, and summary judgement was granted.

CNH argued that the deposition testimony was inadmissible and the plaintiff lacked the expert evidence required to carry her burden of proof under the Connecticut Product Liability …

Continue Reading
Connecticut / Insurance Coverage
Posted by:

Excess Policies with Coverage Periods Between 12 and 24 months Provide Only One Aggregate Limit

CONNECTICUT — This case involved a dispute over the number of aggregate limits in two excess insurance policies. Ferguson was the successor in interest to Familian Corporation, a pipe and supply distributor for the plumbing and contractor industries.  Familian supplied certain products containing asbestos from the 1950’s until the 1970’s and as a result has been defending a vast number of asbestos lawsuits since 1997. Ferguson’s primary insurance policies were exhausted by 2002, and the dispute at bar was among the umbrella and excess carriers.…

Continue Reading
Case Decisions / Connecticut / Expert Challenges
Posted by:

Lack of Product Specific Expert Testimony About Respirable Asbestos Fibers Reverses Mesothelioma Verdict

CONNECTICUT — Plaintiff Marianne Bradley, as executrix of her husband Wayne Bagley’s estate, sought to recover damages pursuant to Connecticut’s Product Liability Act for the wrongful death of the decedent under theories of negligence and strict liability. Plaintiff alleged that the decedent was exposed to asbestos-containing dust from FM-37, a product manufactured by the defendant, while working at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and this exposure caused decedent’s mesothelioma. The plaintiff further alleged that the defendant’s actions in selling its product constituted violations of the Act in …

Continue Reading
Case Decisions / Connecticut / Insurance Coverage
Posted by:

Connecticut Appeals Court Adopts Continuous Trigger and Unavailability Rule of Insurance Allocation

R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc., which formerly manufactured and sold industrial talc that purportedly contained asbestos, brought this action seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment to determine its rights and obligations, and those of approximately thirty defendant insurance companies, as to the costs of defending and indemnifying the plaintiff in thousands of underlying lawsuits brought against it in the past several decades that alleged personal injuries resulting from exposure to asbestos. In this 147-page decision, the court determined a multitude of issues related to allocation of …

Continue Reading