U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit: Asbestos Cases

Our case-law library holds 9 asbestos decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit (1982–2015). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• Kind of court: Federal appeals court

Decisions

• Barraford v. T&N Limited (2015). The First Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment for T&N, which held the Federal-Mogul Asbestos Personal Injury Trust's wrongful-death and tort claims on behalf of the Barraford estate time-barred.
• Bath Iron Works Corp. v. US Dept. of Labor (2003). The First Circuit denied Bath Iron Works' petition for review and affirmed the Benefits Review Board, which had upheld the award of death benefits to widow Gertrude Knight, finding her claim timely.
• Associated Industries of Massachusetts v. Snow (1990). The First Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part: it upheld the Massachusetts asbestos abatement statute and regulations against Associated Industries' preemption challenge, except the respirator and medical monitoring provisions, and ruled for the Commonwealth on the disposable protective clothing requirement.
• Dube v. Pittsburgh Corning (1989). The First Circuit reversed the trial court's judgment for the United States, holding the discretionary function exception did not shield the Navy, and remanded for entry of judgment on the trial court's findings (one-third government share) in favor of the asbestos manufacturers' contribution claims.
• Kaiser v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (1989). The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the asbestos manufacturer defendants, holding Sol Kaiser's suit time-barred by Puerto Rico's one-year statute of limitations, so Kaiser and his family lost.
• Eagle-Picher Industries v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. (1987). The First Circuit affirmed the district court's six-year rollback for asbestosis but made it a rebuttable presumption, and it required separate methods for other diseases. It vacated the certification clause and affirmed the denial of bad faith damages. It held that Eagle-Picher is owed interest from finality and remanded for further proceedings.
• Shuman v. United States (1985). The First Circuit reversed the district court's judgment for plaintiff Edythe Shuman, holding that the United States was not liable because the discretionary function exception of the FTCA barred the claim.
• Austin v. Unarco Industries, Inc. (1983). The First Circuit affirmed that admiralty law did not apply, upheld the denial of a new trial on the comparative negligence finding for Raybestos-Manhattan and Unarco, but vacated the dismissal of the plaintiff's Maine strict liability count and remanded for further proceedings.
• Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. (1982). The First Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling that the manifestation theory governs which insurance policies cover Eagle-Picher's asbestos claims, but modified the judgment so the trigger date is when the disease became reasonably capable of medical diagnosis, not the date of actual diagnosis.