Gooding v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (2020)

Our plain-English summary of Gooding v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, November 20, 2020).

The family of James Gooding sued several defendants, claiming asbestos exposure while he worked for the American Bureau of Shipping from 1970 to 1979 caused the malignant pleural mesothelioma that killed him. They brought survival and wrongful death claims. Travelers, named as a possible insurer of Gretna Machine & Iron Works and its officers, was dismissed by the plaintiffs. Huntington Ingalls and Albert Bossier Jr. (the Avondale Interests) had filed cross-claims against Travelers, which asked for summary judgment on them. Travelers submitted two affidavits saying it searched its records and found no liability policies issued to Gretna Machine from 1967 to 1979, covering both the alleged exposure years and Mr. Gooding's Coast Guard service. The Avondale Interests filed no opposition and offered no contrary evidence. The court treated the motion as unopposed, found it had merit because the undisputed evidence showed no policies, and granted summary judgment for Travelers.

We wrote this summary from the court's opinion with the help of AI. It is not the court's wording, and it is not legal advice. The full opinion is below.

The decision

• Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
• Decided: November 20, 2020
• Stage: Summary judgment
• State: Louisiana

Outcome. The court granted Travelers' unopposed summary judgment motion, dismissing the Avondale Interests' cross-claims because Travelers issued no liability policies to Gretna Machine from 1967 through 1979.

What the court held. A party moving for summary judgment on an issue where the other side bears the burden of proof may succeed by showing an absence of evidence; here, undisputed affidavits showed no policies were issued, and the cross-claimants offered no contrary evidence.

Issues decided: Wrongful Death and Survival, Insurance Coverage.

The people and their exposure

• James Grant Gooding: pleural mesothelioma; died

Who	Work	Where	When	Products
James Grant Gooding	employee of the American Bureau of Shipping (shipyards and maritime work)	American Bureau of Shipping	1970-1979

The defendants

• Travelers Casualty and Surety Company (insurer)
• The Travelers Indemnity Company (insurer)
• Gretna Machine & Iron Works
• Trinity Industries, Inc.

Other decisions in this case

Other rulings from the same court in the same case, in our library:

• Gooding v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (May 19, 2021). The court granted insurer Lamorak's motion to stay the action because of its Pennsylvania liquidation, administratively closed the case, and denied the plaintiffs' motion to sever the claims against Lamorak and its insureds.

The court's opinion

The text below is Google Scholar's copy of the court's opinion, a public record. Numbers in brackets, such as [*921], mark where each page of the printed reporter begins.

JAMES GOODING et al,

v.

LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. etal., SECTION: "G" (3).

Civil Action Case No. 20-1133.

November 20, 2020.

United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana.

ORDER

NANNETTE JOLIVETTE BROWN, Chief District Judge.

This litigation arises from an alleged asbestos exposure that occurred while Decedent James Grant Gooding ("Mr. Gooding") was employed by the American Bureau of Shipping from 1970 through 1979.[1] Plaintiffs Martha Gooding, Helen Leupold, and Caroline Pendergast (collectively, "Plaintiffs") bring survival and wrongful death claims against numerous defendants, alleging that asbestos exposure caused Mr. Gooding to contract malignant pleural mesothelioma, which ultimately caused his death.[2] Pending before the Court is cross-claim Defendants Travelers Casualty and Surety Company and The Travelers Indemnity Company's (collectively, "Travelers") motion for summary judgment.[3] Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, Travelers seeks dismissal of Defendants and cross-claim Plaintiffs Huntington Ingalls, Inc., and Albert L. Bossier Jr.'s (collectively, the "Avondale Interests") cross-claims against Travelers as an alleged insurer of Gretna Machine & Iron Works ("Gretna Machine") and its alleged executive officers.[4] Having considered the motion, the memorandum in support, the record, and the applicable law, the Court grants the motion.

The instant motion was filed on October 6, 2020, and noticed for submission on October 21, 2020.[5] Pursuant to Eastern District of Louisiana Local Rule 7.5, any opposition to a motion must be filed eight days before the noticed submission date. The Avondale Interests have filed no opposition to the motion, and therefore the motion is deemed to be unopposed. The Court has authority to grant a motion that is unopposed, although it is not required to do so.[6] District courts may grant an unopposed motion as long as the motion has merit.[7]

Although Plaintiffs initially named Travelers as defendants in the instant lawsuit as an insurance provider for Defendant Trinity Industries, Inc., individually and as a successor in interest to Gretna Machine and its alleged executive officers,[8] Plaintiffs subsequently voluntarily dismissed all claims against Travelers.[9] Accordingly, Travelers seeks summary judgment solely with respect to the cross claims asserted by the Avondale Interests.[10]

In the motion for summary judgment, Travelers asserts that upon being dismissed by Plaintiffs, Travelers presented the Avondale Interests with an affidavit "attesting to the fact that Travelers searched its records and did not locate any policies of liability insurance issued to Gretna Machine during the alleged period of exposure."[11] In addition, Travelers asserts that it presented the Avondale Interests with this Court's Order dismissing claims brought by Plaintiffs against Travelers, and Travelers requested that the Avondale Interests dismiss the cross-claims asserted against Travelers.[12] Despite receiving this information, Travelers submits that the Avondale Interests did not voluntarily dismiss the cross-claim against Travelers. [13] In addition, Travelers states that the Avondale Interests asked Travelers' counsel whether Travelers issued any policies to Gretna Machine during Mr. Gooding's service in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1967 to 1970, since those years may be included in the Avondale Interests' cross claims.[14]

Travelers argues that "[t]he Avondale Interests have not produced any evidence that Travelers issued any policies of liability insurance to Gretna Machine during the time period of [Mr. Gooding's] alleged asbestos exposure at Gretna Machine, 1970-1979, or during the years of [Mr. Gooding's] service in the U.S. Coast Guard, 1967-1970."[15] Travelers further argues that the Avondale Interests cannot offer any evidence "to refute the [affidavits], which attest that Travelers did not locate any liability policies issued to Gretna Machine during the period from 1967-1979."[16] For these reasons, Travelers contends that

the Avondale Interests cannot meet their burden of proof to defeat summary judgment by showing that Travelers insured Gretna Machine during the period of alleged exposure.[17]

Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, the discovery, and any affidavits show that "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."[18] If the record, as a whole, could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, then no genuine issue of fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.[19] On a motion for summary judgment, the moving party bears the initial burden of identifying those portions of the record that it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.[20] Where the non-moving party bears the burden of proof at trial, as here, the party moving for summary judgment may meet its burden by showing the Court that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party's case.[21] Thereafter, if the moving party satisfies its initial burden, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to "identify specific evidence in the record, and articulate" precisely how that evidence supports her claims.[22]

Here, Travelers has presented two affidavits attesting to the fact that Travelers searched its records and did not locate any policies of liability insurance issued to Gretna Machine during the years of Mr. Gooding's alleged asbestos exposure, 1970 to 1979,[23] or the years of Mr. Gooding's service in the U.S. Coast Guard, 1967 to 1970.[24] The Avondale Interests have not responded to the motion for summary judgment or presented any evidence to contradict Travelers' assertion that Travelers did not issue any liability policies to Gretna Machine at any time from 1967 through 1979. Thus, the undisputed evidence in the record establishes that Travelers did not issue any insurance liability policies to Gretna Machine during the period from 1967 through 1979. As a result, the Court finds that Travelers' unopposed motion for summary judgment has merit.

Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Travelers Casualty and Surety Company and The Travelers Indemnity Company's motion for summary judgment[25] is GRANTED.

[1] Rec. Doc. 1-1.

[2] Id.; Rec. Doc. 38.

[3] Rec. Doc. 210.

[4] Id. at 1. The alleged executive officers are George Hebert, Charles Adams, Dooch Pitre, Robert Huff, Perry Poche, George Fagin, Herbert LeBlanc, Jean Richoux, and John Galliano. Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Edward H. Bohlin Co., Inc. v. Banning Co., Inc., 6 F.3d 350, 356 (5th Cir. 1993).

[7] See Braly v. Trail, 254 F.3d 1082 (5th Cir. 2001).

[8] Rec. Doc. 1-1 at 8.

[9] Rec. Doc. 146.

[10] Rec. Doc. 210-1 at 2.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id. at 3; see also Rec. Doc. 210-3.

[14] Rec. Doc. 210-1 at 2.

[15] Id. at 3.

[16] Id.

[17] Id. at 8-9.

[18] Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986); Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir. 1994).

[19] Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio, 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986).

[20] Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323.

[21] Id. at 325.

[22] Forsyth v. Barr, 19 F.3d 1527, 1537 (5th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 871 (1994); see also Morris v. Covan World Wide Moving, Inc., 144 F.3d 377, 380 (5th Cir. 1998).

[23] Rec. Doc. 210-2.

[24] Rec. Doc. 210-4.

[25] Rec. Doc. 210.

Sources

• The opinion on Google Scholar
• Louisiana asbestos laws
• Louisiana asbestos exposure sites