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

Our case-law library holds 16 asbestos decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit (1980–2017). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• Kind of court: Federal appeals court

Decisions

• Stallings v. Georgia Pacific Corp. (2017). The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Georgia-Pacific against Carol Lee Stallings, because her experts' 'any exposure' testimony could not show that Georgia-Pacific's products were a substantial factor in her husband's mesothelioma.
• Frazier v. Jackson (2014). The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the defendant attorneys and law firms, holding that Donna Frazier's legal malpractice suit was filed too late under Tennessee's one-year limitations period.
• Moeller v. Garlock Sealing Technologies, LLC (2011). The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of Garlock's motion for judgment as a matter of law, so Garlock won and the jury's $516,094 verdict for Olwen Moeller could not stand.
• Martin v. Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company (2009). The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for General Motors, Cincinnati Gas & Electric and General Electric, and the executor of Dennis Martin's estate lost on all claims.
• Lindstrom v. AC Product Liability Trust (2005). The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Ingersoll Rand, Coffin Turbo Pump, Garlock Sealing, Henry Vogt and Goulds Pumps, and affirmed the bench-trial verdict for John Crane, so the estate of Rolf Lindstrom lost against all six defendants.
• Upsher v. Grosse Pointe Public School System (2002). The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Grosse Pointe school system, its board and the individual officials, rejecting the custodians' § 1983 and Michigan intentional-tort claims.
• Barnes v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (2000). The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgments, upholding the denial of new trials, so the estates of Beckmann and Rogers lost and Owens-Corning won.
• Strickland v. Owens Corning (1998). The Sixth Circuit held the district court abused its discretion in denying Owens Corning's new-trial/remittitur motion and remanded for a remittitur reducing the judgment to no more than $883,731 (50% fault), failing which a new trial limited to fault apportionment would be held; the plaintiff estate partly lost and Owens Corning partly won.
• Miller v. American President Lines, Ltd. (1993). The Sixth Circuit vacated the $650,000 punitive damages award against the shipowners, remanded for the district court to reconsider their indemnity and contribution claims against the asbestos suppliers under comparative fault, and otherwise affirmed the judgment for the plaintiff estate.
• Becht v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1992). The Sixth Circuit affirmed the judgment for plaintiff Ann Becht against Owens-Corning, holding it was not entitled to workers' compensation immunity and that the jury's 40% fault allocation and the denial of a new trial were proper.
• Dykes v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1986). The Sixth Circuit affirmed the evidentiary rulings and the punitive damages availability for plaintiff Helen Dykes, but reversed the denial of National Gypsum's motion to amend the judgment and remanded so the Tennessee contribution statute could be applied to set off the punitive award.
• Clay v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1983). The Sixth Circuit stayed the appeal as to bankrupt Johns-Manville, vacated the jury verdicts for Raybestos-Manhattan and remanded for retrial, so the Clay and Bailey plaintiffs won on appeal.
• Murphree v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. (1982). The Sixth Circuit reversed the jury verdict for defendant Raybestos-Manhattan and remanded for a new trial, ruling for the plaintiff widow on the limitations and causation-instruction issues.
• Clutter v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1981). The Sixth Circuit reversed the district courts' rulings that the plaintiffs' claims were time-barred and remanded for a determination of when each plaintiff's disease manifested, favoring the plaintiffs Clutter, Dwiggins and McGreevey over the asbestos manufacturers.
• Ins. Co. of NA v. Forty-Eight Insulations, Inc. (1981). On rehearing, the court held that mesothelioma and lung cancer are treated like asbestosis for insurance coverage, adhered to the exposure theory and to allocating defense costs like liability costs, and granted the rehearing petitions only in part.
• Ins. Co. North America v. Forty-Eight Insulations (1980). The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment adopting the exposure theory, so all of Forty-Eight Insulations' insurers on the risk during the exposure years share defense and indemnity costs pro rata, with Forty-Eight bearing the share for uninsured years; INA, Affiliated FM, Illinois National and Liberty Mutual lost, and Forty-Eight and Travelers largely won.