U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin: Asbestos Cases

Our case-law library holds 16 asbestos decisions from the U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin (2014–2018). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• Kind of court: Federal district court

Decisions

• Kappel v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2018). The court accepted the plaintiffs' amended complaint, granted Weyerhaeuser's motion to dismiss the nuisance claims as time-barred, and denied it in all other respects, so the plaintiffs' negligence claim and punitive damages claim go forward.
• Kilty v. Weyerhaeuser Co. (2018). The court granted Weyerhaeuser's summary judgment motions in both cases, so the Kilty and Spatz plaintiffs lost their negligence claims. It also affirmed the magistrate judge's denial of late depositions but vacated the discovery sanction against plaintiffs.
• Kilty v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2018). The court denied 3M Company's motions for summary judgment, so the plaintiffs' strict liability and negligence claims over the 8710 respirator go to trial.
• Kilty v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2018). The district court granted in part and denied in part Weyerhaeuser's motion to dismiss: it dismissed the nuisance claims as time-barred and struck reliance on federal Clean Air Act standards (unopposed), but let the negligence and punitive damages claims go forward, so the plaintiffs won on those points.
• Carroll v. Abb, Inc. (2017). The court granted summary judgment to ABB, Atwood & Morrill, A.W. Chesterton, Crane Co., Crosby Valve, Flowserve and Ingersoll Rand, and denied it to John Crane Inc., so the claims against John Crane, including punitive damages, proceed.
• Carroll v. John Crane, Inc. (2017). Ahead of the July 17, 2017 trial, the court granted some and denied some of the parties' evidentiary motions and reserved others, so neither Patricia Carroll nor John Crane Inc. clearly won.
• Carroll v. John Crane, Inc. (2017). Ahead of trial, the court denied plaintiffs' motions to exclude John Crane's experts Crapo, Roggli, Beasley, Henshaw and McCloskey, granted many unopposed motions from both sides, and reserved ruling on others, including bankruptcy-trust claims, settlements, and "every exposure" language.
• Carter v. Henry Carlson's Construction Company (2017). On screening, the magistrate judge found the negligence allegations enough to infer a duty and breach by each defendant, but ordered Carter to file an amended complaint because he alleged no symptoms, diagnosis or injury.
• Boyer v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2016). The federal district court denied the plaintiffs' motions to reconsider its summary judgment rulings for Weyerhaeuser and denied their alternative requests to amend their complaints, so Weyerhaeuser won.
• Boyer v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2016). The court granted Weyerhaeuser summary judgment and struck plaintiffs' experts as to Masephol, Prust, Seehafer, Heckel and Treutel, denied them as to Boyer, Pecher and Sydow on public nuisance, and granted summary judgment to Weyerhaeuser on all private nuisance claims.
• Pecher v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2016). Ruling before trial on both sides' motions in limine, the court granted some, denied others and reserved on several, so neither plaintiff Janet Pecher nor defendant Weyerhaeuser won across the board.
• Suoja v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. (2016). After a bench trial, the court entered judgment for Owens-Illinois and dismissed the estate's claims because plaintiff Gary Suoja did not prove Oswald Suoja was exposed to Owens-Illinois Kaylo or that any such exposure substantially caused his mesothelioma.
• Suoja v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. (2015). Denied Owens-Illinois's motion for summary judgment, which argued mootness, lack of standing and issue preclusion, so plaintiff Gary Suoja's claims continued; plaintiff's motion for leave to file a surreply was denied as moot.
• Sydow v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2015). The court found Owens-Illinois' motion to dismiss moot, denied 3M's and Weyerhaeuser's motions to join it, and granted Theresa Sydow's motion to file a third amended complaint substituting her as special administrator and adding a wrongful death claim.
• Boyer v. Weyerhaeuser Company (2014). The court granted Weyerhaeuser's motion to dismiss with prejudice under Wisconsin's workers' compensation exclusivity provision, and granted Owens-Illinois's motion to dismiss the licensor-based claims, with 30 days for plaintiffs to amend the strict liability claim.
• Miller v. American Art Clay Co. Inc. (2014). The federal district court granted summary judgment to AMACO and R.T. Vanderbilt against the Miller estate and Jane Miller because plaintiffs could not show which AMACO clay Miller used.