LATEST INSIGHTS

Insurance Coverage
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New York Federal Court Refuses to Apply Viking Pump Without First Receiving Briefs From Parties

Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO) sued Travelers Indemnity Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company alleging that insurance policies issued to CMCO obligate them to defend and indemnify CMCO with respect to thousands of lawsuits filed against CMCO for personal injury allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos-containing products manufactured and sold by CMCO and its predecessors.

CMCO sought leave to file an expedited motion seeking to compel Liberty Mutual to pay 100 percent of CMCO’s defense costs in the underlying lawsuits based on the New York Court …

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Science
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Was There Exposure? Objective Tests Through Advances in Biomarker Science Relevant to Asbestos and Other Toxic Tort Litigation

Some of the most difficult product liability cases to resolve are tough because of a lack of clarity as to the duration or amount of exposure. For example, defendants and plaintiffs sometimes take very different views of exposure in the so-called “take home” cases where a spouse allegedly developed a cancer from a “toxin” in the workplace of the other spouse. Over the next few years, some litigants will be smart enough to take advantage of the findings from new, objective tests that are arising …

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Bare Metal/Component Parts / Case Decisions / Delaware / Maritime/Admiralty Law / Summary Judgment
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Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment Granted for Lack of Exposure Evidence and Opposition

The plaintiffs brought this action against multiple defendants alleging Mr. Evans developed an asbestos related disease as a result of his exposure to asbestos while serving in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Evans alleged that he worked as a fireman and boiler tender on-board the USS Kearsarge from 1957-61 and USS Bole in 1961. Mr. Evans believed that he had been exposed to asbestos from gaskets and refractory products while in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Evans also alleged that he had been exposed to brake dust …

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Bare Metal/Component Parts / Case Decisions / Delaware / Maritime/Admiralty Law / Summary Judgment
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Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment Granted for Plaintiffs’ Failure to Establish Exposure Evidence

The plaintiff alleged he developed mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to asbestos while working with the U.S. Navy from 1961-64 and from 1961-78 with various employers. Defendant Crane Co. removed the case to the U.S. District Court on August 31, 2015. Defendants CBS Corporation, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, FMC Corporation, and Ingersoll Rand moved for summary judgment. The plaintiff filed no opposition to those motions.

The court began its analysis with the standard for summary judgment. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is …

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Case Decisions / Delaware / Federal Officer Jurisdiction / Maritime/Admiralty Law
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Court Denies Defendant’s Motion to Apply Federal Maritime Law

Plaintiffs Ralph Elliott Shaw and Joan Sanderson Shaw initiated this action by filing a complaint in the Superior Court of Delaware on February 26, 2015 asserting various causes of action arising out of Mr. Shaw’s alleged exposure to asbestos throughout his employment. Specifically, the plaintiff’s allegations include Mr. Shaw’s occupational exposure as a sheet metal worker in Groton, Connecticut from approximately 1952 to 1954 and 1957 to 1967. Mr. Shaw alleged exposure to asbestos throughout his employment, at various submarine factories and shipyards with respect …

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Case Decisions / New York / Summary Judgment
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Summary Judgment Denied to Manufacturer of Commercial Kitchen Equipment

Plaintiff Dario Battistoni worked as a butcher at a delicatessen in Queens, New York, from 1979 to 1980, and later worked as a butcher and banquet chef in kitchens at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California from 1980 to 1999. The plaintiff claims that at those jobs he worked with commercial kitchen equipment, including products made by defendant ITW Food Equipment Group LLC that exposed him asbestos and caused his mesothelioma. ITW moved for summary judgment, contending that its products could not have …

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Case Decisions / Federal Officer Jurisdiction / Florida / Remand/Removal
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Remand Denied Under Federal Officer Jurisdiction Analysis for Plaintiff Alleging Asbestos Exposure in U.S. Navy

Plaintiff Marc Killiam served in the U.S. Navy from 1973 to 1977 aboard the USS McCandless while at sea and in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He alleges that as a boiler tender he removed and replaced various asbestos containing products and that exposure to asbestos from those products caused his asbestosis. He filed suit in Hillsborough County, Florida on September 26, 2016 against various defendants, including Crane Co. Crane removed the case to the U.S. District Court on October 13, 2016 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. …

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New York / Significant Verdicts
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Gasket Defendant Found Not Liable in Recent New York Mesothelioma Case

A jury found defendant Dana Companies not negligent in manufacturing and/or selling asbestos containing gaskets without adequate warning in a recent New York mesothelioma case despite a finding of exposure to the defendant’s gaskets. The plaintiff, Michael Colsten, claimed exposure to asbestos while working as an automotive mechanic at General Tire from 1965 through 1969 and at Don’s Automotive Shop from 1969 through 1973. The plaintiff claimed he developed pleural mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos through home improvements and hobby mechanics.

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California / Case Decisions
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Defense Judgment Affirmed Under Consumer Expectation Test

David Baeza and Vana Baeza filed suit against defendants including Special Electric Company, a distributor of raw crocidolite asbestos fibers called ML-6 following his diagnosis with mesothelioma. Special Electric had supplied ML-6 raw asbestos fibers to Johns-Manville beginning in the mid-1970s. David Baeza’s father had worked at a Johns-Manville plant in Long Beach, California, and David was exposed as a child to asbestos dust that clung to his father’s shoes, clothes, hair, and skin. At the time of trial, the only causes of action that …

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Case Decisions / Louisiana
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Plaintiff Fails to Satisfy Burden to Vacate Defense Verdict

Plaintiff Dan Freeman filed a Seaman’s Petition for Damages against a number of defendants under state law, general maritime law, and the Jones Act on July 26, 2011. Freeman alleged that while he was working on drilling rigs, he was exposed to asbestos drilling mud products, and ultimately developed “asbestos maladies” as a result of the defendants’ asbestos products.

By the time of trial in 2015, only two defendants remained, to which the jury returned a defense verdict dismissing all claims with prejudice. Freeman timely …

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