Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy

February 22, 2023
Claimant Seeks Dismissal Of Chapter 11 Case Of Georgia-Pacific Debtor Bestwall

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With two federal circuit courts recently ruling on what constitutes a bad faith bankruptcy in cases also involving debtors created in corporate restructurings to absorb affiliates’ asbestos liability, it’s time to again look at whether the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC should be dismissed for lack of the “overwhelming liability” required of a debtor to enter bankruptcy, an asbestos claimant and his wife say in a motion to dismiss filed more than three years after a North Carolina U.S. bankruptcy judge denied a dismissal bid by the asbestos claimants’ committee.
February 22, 2023
J&J Says 3rd Circuit Ruling Doesn’t Lift Stay Of UCL Asbestos Claims Appeal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision dissolving the LTL Management LLC bankruptcy does not lift a stay in the appeal of a federal lawsuit claiming that two companies violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws by withholding information about asbestos contamination of talc because the court has yet to issue a mandate and won’t until resolution of a rehearing petition, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI) tells the Ninth Circuit in a status report.
February 21, 2023
Georgia-Pacific Debtor Says LTL Management Ruling Moots Injunction Arguments

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should not consider arguments on appeal by Georgia-Pacific bankrupt unit Bestwall LLC regarding the issuance of an injunction protecting nondebtor affiliates from asbestos claims in the separate Chapter 11 case of a Johnson & Johnson spinoff because the Third Circuit’s recent rejection of that case means the injunction ruling is now invalid, asbestos claimants’ representatives tell the Fourth Circuit in a recent notice of supplemental authority.
February 21, 2023
New York Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Fiber Supplier Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Erie County jury returned a defense verdict for plastics company’s fiber supplier, sources told Mealey Publications.
February 17, 2023
Mediation Protocols Set For Asbestos Bankruptcies Of Ingersoll-Rand, Trane Units

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy judge approved the mediators and set the conditions for negotiations among debtors Aldrich Pump LLC and Murray Boiler LLC, affiliates Ingersoll-Rand and Trane and representatives for asbestos personal injury claimants on a global resolution to the Chapter 11 cases and creation of an asbestos trust.
February 16, 2023
Freed From Stay, 24-Year-Old With Meso Seeks Trial Against J&J

LOS ANGELES — Now that a judge lifted the stay imposed by the LTL Management bankruptcy, an asbestos-talc case may be fully prosecuted at trial within the next 60 days, a 24-year-old man suffering from mesothelioma tells a California judge in a case management statement.
February 16, 2023
Parties To Asbestos Suit Get More Time To Argue Intentional Injury Case

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals court extended oral arguments for each side after hearing from amici about whether knowingly causing repeated exposures to asbestos falls within the workers’ compensation exclusivity provisions exception for intentional injury and whether insurers could legally dissolve a bankrupt entity.
February 16, 2023
Judge: Lack Of Supporting Evidence Dooms Fees Award In Remanded Asbestos Fight

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington said she could not award attorney fees based on blanket statements about the hours spent fighting against removal of an asbestos case the court previously found lacked any objectively reasonable basis.
February 15, 2023
4th Circuit Rejects Insurer’s Challenges To Kaiser’s Plan Confirmation

RICHMOND, Va. — The primary insurer for Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. lacks standing not only under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code but also under the Constitution to challenge the debtors’ confirmed plan of reorganization, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Feb. 14, affirming the plan confirmation.
February 15, 2023
Johnson & Johnson Debtor Seeks Redo Of 3rd Circuit Order To Dismiss Case

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ recent finding that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC filed for bankruptcy in bad faith because it was not in financial distress conflicts with precedent and “will create fundamental problems in future bankruptcy cases,” the debtor says in a petition for rehearing.
February 13, 2023
Hess, Chapter 11 Unit HONX Say They Have Reached Deal With Asbestos Claimants

HOUSTON — Hess Corp., its Chapter 11 debtor affiliate HONX Inc. and asbestos claimants have reached an agreement on a plan of reorganization for the debtor that will establish a trust to evaluate and resolve the asbestos claims, according to a stipulation the parties filed in Texas federal bankruptcy court calling for a stay of all litigation and the filing of a plan and disclosure statement within 60 days.
February 09, 2023
Judge Seeks Response On Evidence Protection In Asbestos Trust Auditing Case

JACKSON, Miss. — With a motion for reconsideration pending on a ruling granting an asbestos trust auditing company summary judgment on tortious interference claims, a federal judge in Mississippi asked the doctor at the heart of the case to respond to a supplemental motion asking the court to continue to restrict access to exhibits relied on in the case.
February 09, 2023
Louisiana Court: Repealed Law Applies, But Dissolved Company Didn’t Comply

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals court granted a dissolved asbestos company’s insurers’ writ application but denied the insurers relief, finding that while a repealed statute imposing a three-year limit on suits against dissolved entities applies to the case, the insurers had not demonstrated that the company met the requirements of the statute to have the claims at hand extinguished.
February 03, 2023
Federal Jury Awards $275,000 In Asbestos Case Against Ford

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal jury in North Carolina found Ford Motor Co. liable under a product liability failure-to-warn cause of action and awarded $275,000 on his widow’s wrongful death claim.
February 02, 2023
Law Firm, Asbestos Claimants Appeal HONX Rulings To District Court

HOUSTON — A Dallas law firm and the hundreds of asbestos personal injury claimants it represents have appealed rulings by the federal bankruptcy court in the Chapter 11 case of Hess Corp. affiliate HONX Inc. scheduling an asbestos liability estimation hearing for the debtor, directing discovery production from the firm and threatening $10,000 daily “coercive” sanctions for noncompliance.
January 30, 2023
3rd Circuit Dismisses Johnson & Johnson Unit’s Chapter 11 Case

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 30 rejected retail giant Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to place all of its asbestos-talc liability with an affiliate and then bankrupt it, ordering the affiliate’s Chapter 11 case closed after finding that because it was not in financial distress, its petition does not serve a valid bankruptcy purpose and was filed in bad faith.
January 30, 2023
W.R. Grace Insurer Profits Off Delayed Payments, Asbestos Disease Sufferer Says

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Zurich American Insurance Co. intentionally made low-ball settlement offers and delayed payments for basic health care claims such as supplemental oxygen needed by Libby, Mont., asbestos-disease sufferers to continue profiting off what is otherwise a liability, a man awarded $36.5 million from the insurer says in a federal lawsuit filed in Montana.
January 25, 2023
Bestwall Asbestos Claimants Look To Take Dismissal Of Their Appeals To 4th Circuit

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Asbestos personal injury claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC are seeking more time in North Carolina federal court to appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the dismissal of their challenges to a bankruptcy judge’s contempt finding against them for not providing complete information to the debtor in a discovery questionnaire.
January 25, 2023
Court Says Ship Owner Owed Duty To Worker, But Vacates Verdict, Sanction

TACOMA, Wash. — The owner of a decommissioned ship owed a duty to a man who worked and was allegedly exposed to asbestos while dismantling it but not as a lease owner of the property and the trial court improperly sanctioned the defendant for its 2017 destruction of documents, a Washington appeals court said in vacating judgment and granting a new trial on Jan. 24.
January 24, 2023
LTL Management Opposes Appeal To 3rd Circuit Of Injunction Barring States’ Suits

PHILADELPHIA — With no “recurring, divisive question of law” presented, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should deny a petition for direct appeal filed by New Mexico and Mississippi of an order in the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) debtor LTL Management LLC enjoining the states’ consumer protection lawsuits over the sale of allegedly asbestos-laden talcum powder, the debtor says in a response to the petition in the appellate court.
January 24, 2023
Chapter 11 Case Of Owens-Illinois Debtor Paddock Enterprises Closed

WILMINGTON, Del. — The federal bankruptcy court in Delaware issued an order on Jan. 23 closing the Chapter 11 case of Owens-Illinois Inc. spinoff and asbestos debtor Paddock Enterprises LLC.
January 24, 2023
J&J Debtor Seeks Names Of All 33 Participants In Asbestos-Talc Study

TRENTON, N.J. — LTL Management LLC, the Chapter 11 debtor holding all of Johnson & Johnson’s asbestos liabilities, is asking a New Jersey federal bankruptcy judge to order the occupational disease expert who conducted a study on the connection between asbestos in talcum powder and mesothelioma to produce the names of all 33 study subjects based on the discovery that one of the participants had also submitted a claim for occupational exposure to asbestos in addition to exposure to talc.
January 23, 2023
Louisiana Court Affirms Experts, Take-Home Component Of $10.35M Asbestos Award

NEW ORLEANS — A divided Louisiana appellate court turned away challenges about the nature of take-home asbestos claims, the admission of testimony from causation experts and the size of the resulting $10.35 million verdict.
January 23, 2023
Missouri Judge Enters $5.37M Judgment After Mesothelioma Verdict

ST. LOUIS — A judge in Missouri offset a $6 million asbestos verdict for a woman’s fatal mesothelioma by more than $600,000 for amounts received by the plaintiff in previous settlements.
January 20, 2023
J&J Debtor Files Fraud Suit Over 2nd Asbestos Talc Study And Article

TRENTON, N.J. — After leveling fraud claims against the author of an asbestos talc study, Johnson & Johnson’s bankrupt affiliate LTL Management LLC is taking aim at three pathologists who conducted a follow-up study of more malignant mesothelioma patients and their use of talcum powder in an adversary action filed in New Jersey federal bankruptcy court.