U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana: Asbestos Cases

Our case-law library holds 30 asbestos decisions from the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana (2014–2025). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• Kind of court: Federal district court

Decisions

• Alford v. Taylor-Seidenbach, Inc. (2025). The court granted Union Carbide's partial summary judgment motion on the failure-to-properly-package claim, denied it as moot on the conceded take-home and lost-earnings claims, and denied it on the Super Visbestos, failure-to-warn and product supplier strict liability issues, so those go to trial for the plaintiffs.
• Manchester v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2022). The court granted defendant Arrow Electronics' motion to withdraw its notice of removal and remanded the case to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for East Baton Rouge Parish, so plaintiff Manchester prevailed on keeping the case in state court.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The court denied the summary judgment motions of General Electric and ViacomCBS/Westinghouse, so the plaintiffs' claims against the two turbine manufacturers go forward.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The court granted in part and denied in part Berkshire's summary judgment motion: claims tied to the second policy period and to the father's second-hand exposure were dismissed with prejudice, while the claim of direct exposure during the first policy period survived for Plaintiffs and Avondale.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The district court denied Aerojet Rocketdyne's motion for summary judgment, finding fact disputes on whether the decedent was exposed to asbestos at Barnard and Burk and whether Aerojet inherited its liabilities, so plaintiffs and Avondale prevailed on the motion.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The court granted the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, finding no genuine dispute that Kirk Reulet had mesothelioma and that it resulted in his death, over the opposition of Bayer CropScience, Hopeman Brothers and Liberty Mutual.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The court denied American Insurance Company's motion for summary judgment on coverage, so the plaintiffs prevailed, and ordered American's counsel to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed.
• Reulet v. Lamorak Ins. Co. (2022). The court granted in part the motion by insurers Wausau and Liberty and stayed the plaintiffs' direct action claims against them pending the Reilly-Benton bankruptcy; the claims were not dismissed.
• Hsieh v. Apache Deepwater, LLC (2021). The magistrate judge denied plaintiff David Hsieh's motions to compel discovery against BP, Chevron, Exxon and Texaco, so the defendants prevailed on the motions.
• Hsieh v. Badger Oil Corporation (2021). The court granted seven defendants' unopposed motions for summary judgment (Nustar, Murphy EXPRO, Union Carbide, Montello, Apache, and the Baker Hughes entities) and dismissed the plaintiff's claims against them with prejudice.
• Hsieh v. Badger Oil Corporation (2021). The court granted summary judgment to Badger Oil Corporation and Klentos Production Corporation, dismissing plaintiff David Hsieh's claims against them with prejudice because he did not oppose and they had no role in his exposure.
• Hsieh v. Apache Deepwater, LLC (2020). The district court denied plaintiff David Hsieh's motion for reconsideration of its order denying remand, leaving in place federal OCSLA jurisdiction and the removal by defendants Apache Deepwater and ENSCO.
• McAllister v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2020). The court granted summary judgment to Tate Andale (no successor liability) and Velan Valve (no evidence of exposure) and denied it to Spirax Sarco, Air & Liquid Systems and Flowserve, so the plaintiffs' claims against those three go forward.
• McAllister v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2020). The court denied defendant Nash Engineering's motion for partial summary judgment on the McAllister plaintiffs' damages claims, but limited recovery of loss of income and household services to the surviving spouse as executrix of the estate.
• McAllister v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2018). The court denied plaintiff James McAllister's motion for an expedited trial setting, which Air & Liquid Systems Corporation had opposed.
• Coleman v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2017). The magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part the Coleman plaintiffs' motion to compel Pilkington North America to produce a Rule 30(b)(6) corporate representative, granting topic 52 and topic 40 (pre-1972 only) and denying the general dust and post-employment topics.
• Coleman v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2017). The magistrate judge granted the unopposed motion by defendant Pilkington North America to run destructive fiber burden testing on up to 50% of the decedent's pathology materials, against the plaintiffs.
• Coleman v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2017). The magistrate judge granted the plaintiffs' motion to substitute Pamela Coleman and Jody Coleman Nolte for the deceased William Coleman and to file an amended complaint, over Pilkington North America's objection.
• Coleman v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2017). The magistrate judge ordered the plaintiffs' heirs to file a new motion to substitute with a proposed amended complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of all parties, and to state whether the defendants consent.
• Morgan v. Dow Chemical Company (2017). The court granted in part Curtis Morgan's motion to remand, sending the case back to Louisiana state court because Avondale's federal officer removal was untimely, and denied Morgan's request for attorneys' fees and costs.
• Signal Mutual Indemnity Association, Ltd. v. Asbestos Corporation, Ltd. (2017). The court granted the Port of Greater Baton Rouge's motion and dismissed without prejudice the claims of Signal Mutual and Baton Rouge Marine Contractors for lack of admiralty subject-matter jurisdiction.
• Coleman v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2016). The court denied insurer Safety National's motion for summary judgment without prejudice as premature, because Pilkington had not yet had discovery on whether Safety National insured the plant.
• Weis v. Dsm Copolymer, Inc. (2016). The court adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation, granted the plaintiffs' motion to remand, and sent the case back to state court because DSM Copolymer failed to establish federal officer removal jurisdiction.
• Bartel v. Alcoa Steamship Co. (2014). The court adopted the magistrate judge's report, granted the plaintiff's motions to remand, and sent the case back to the Louisiana state court, so the removing defendants (APL and Hess) lost.
• Bartel v. Alcoa Steamship Company (2014). The magistrate judge recommended granting Plaintiff's motions to remand and returning the case to the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge, because the Jones Act claims were not removable under § 1441 and APL had not shown a causal nexus for federal officer removal; the defendants lost.
• Genusa v. Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (2014). The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report, granted plaintiff Genusa's motion to sever and remand, and sent his claims, and BRMC's third-party claims against McKoin Trucking, back to state court while keeping BRMC's claims against the Unions.
• Genusa v. Asbestos Corporation Limited (2014). The magistrate judge recommended granting Genusa's motion to sever and remand, so that his state-law claims against the defendants and BRMC's third-party claims against McKoin Trucking go back to Louisiana state court, with only BRMC's claims against the Unions staying in federal court.
• Leonard v. Board OF Supervisors OF Louisiana State University Agricultural & Mechanical College (2014). The magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs' motion to compel discovery responses and for attorney's fees from defendant Lockheed Martin, finding no factual basis shown for exposure to a Lockheed aircraft component and no good-faith effort to confer.
• Leonard v. Board OF Supervisors OF Louisiana State University and Agriculture and Mechanical College (2014). The court granted Union Pacific Railroad Company's re-urged motion to dismiss, ruling that Union Pacific owed Royce Leonard no legal duty, so the Leonards' claims against it were dismissed.
• Sarradet v. the Dow Chemical Company (2014). The court adopted the Magistrate Judge's recommendation as modified, found the Louisiana officer-defendants improperly joined, and denied plaintiff Sarradet's motion to remand, so Dow Chemical kept the case in federal court.