U.S. Supreme Court: Asbestos Cases

Our case-law library holds 7 asbestos decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court (1997–2019). Each links to our summary and the full opinion.

• Kind of court: U.S. Supreme Court

Decisions

• Air and Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries (2019). The Supreme Court affirmed the Third Circuit's judgment vacating summary judgment for the equipment manufacturers (Air and Liquid Systems, CBS, Foster Wheeler, Ingersoll Rand, General Electric) and sent the case back so the District Court could reconsider under the Court's own duty-to-warn test, which favored the veterans' families.
• Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products Corp. (2012). The Supreme Court affirmed the Third Circuit and the District Court's summary judgment for Railroad Friction Products Corp. and Viad Corp, holding the Corson estate's state-law claims preempted by the Locomotive Inspection Act.
• CSX Transp., Inc. v. Hensley (2009). The Supreme Court summarily reversed the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which had upheld Hensley's $5 million jury verdict against CSX, and remanded because the trial court wrongly refused CSX's requested fear-of-cancer jury instruction.
• Norfolk & Western R. Co. v. Ayers (2003). The Supreme Court affirmed the West Virginia trial court's judgments for the six asbestosis claimants against Norfolk & Western Railway, upholding both the fear-of-cancer damages instruction and the refusal to apportion damages to other exposures.
• Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp. (1999). The Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit's judgment upholding a mandatory limited-fund class certification and settlement of asbestos personal-injury claims against Fibreboard, ruling for the objecting class members (petitioners) against Fibreboard and its insurers, and remanded.
• Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor (1997). The Supreme Court affirmed the Third Circuit's decision vacating the class certification and the antisuit injunction, so the objecting class members won and the settling asbestos defendants and class counsel lost.
• Metro-North Commuter R. Co. v. Buckley (1997). The Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit, holding that Metro-North, the railroad, was not liable for Buckley's emotional distress claim or for his claim to lump-sum medical monitoring costs, and remanded for further proceedings.