North Carolina Court of Appeals: Asbestos Cases

Our case-law library holds 13 asbestos decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals (1979–2019). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• State: North Carolina
• Kind of court: State appeals court

Decisions

• Hinson v. Continental Tire the Americas (2019). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's denial of the asbestosis claim of Walter Hinson's estate (and the common-issues rulings against all consolidated plaintiffs), so Continental Tire the Americas prevailed.
• Gaunt v. Guy M. Beaty & Co., Inc. (2018). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's order reducing the employer Beaty and its insurer Berkley's workers' compensation lien against the Estate to zero, ruling for the Estate's personal representative.
• Penegar v. United Parcel Service (2018). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's findings that the worker's last injurious asbestos exposure occurred at UPS and its recalculated average weekly wage, and dismissed as moot the widow's appeal on the maximum compensation rate.
• Lovelace v. B&r Auto Service, Inc. (2017). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's opinion and award denying the estate's workers' compensation claim against Southern Truck Service, because Whitley's last injurious exposure to asbestos occurred at his later self-employment, Built Rite.
• Ketchie v. Fieldcrest Cannon, Inc. (2015). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Full Commission's order denying the workers' compensation claims of Ketchie and Joines against the N.C. Self-Insurance Security Association, holding they were not "covered claims."
• Richardson v. Pcs Phosphate Company, Inc. (2014). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Full Commission's Amended Opinion and Award, which held that Richardson's last injurious exposure occurred in 1995 while Broadspire was PCS's carrier, so PCS and Broadspire (the appellants) lost.
• Wise v. Alcoa, Inc. (2013). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's denial of the estate's workers' compensation claim against Alcoa, finding the plaintiff failed to prove that asbestos caused the decedent's esophageal cancer.
• Johnson v. Covil Corporation (2011). The Court of Appeals reversed the Industrial Commission's death-benefit calculation for the widow, Edith Johnson, ruling that the 2006 maximum compensation rate applies and that she is owed 66 2/3% of average weekly wages ($538.41), and remanded for more specific findings and recalculation against Covil and its carriers.
• Kingston v. Lyon Construction, Inc. (2010). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's orders, which denied the employer and its insurer's motion to introduce newly discovered evidence and reduced their workers' compensation lien on the worker's third-party asbestos settlements to zero; the worker won.
• Williams v. CSX Transportation, Inc. (2006). The Court of Appeals found no error in the trial and left in place the $7.5 million jury verdict for Williams's estate against CSX Transportation.
• Payne v. Charlotte Heating & Air Cond. (2005). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's award of total disability and death benefits to Mrs. Payne, the administratrix, against Ross and Witmer and Travelers, holding the death benefits claim was properly before the Commission and timely.
• Robbins v. Wake County Bd. of Educ. (2002). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's award of workers' compensation to the estate of Gayle Robbins, finding her mesothelioma a compensable occupational disease, against the Wake County Board of Education.
• Bullard v. Johns-Manville Corp. (1979). The Court of Appeals reversed the Industrial Commission's order awarding death benefits to Bullard's widow and children, ruling for Johns-Manville and Travelers.