Settlements and Releases in Asbestos Cases

Decisions in our library in which the court ruled on enforcing or interpreting a settlement or release: 203 cases, by state. Each line gives what the court held, in our words; the law differs from state to state and changes, so read the opinion and talk to a lawyer before relying on any of them.

West Virginia

• Ratliff v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co. (2009). A release signed in connection with a voluntary separation program, rather than in settlement of a specific FELA claim, is void under 45 U.S.C. § 55 unless it reflects a bargained-for settlement of a known claim for a specific injury.

Wisconsin

• Herr v. Linde LLC (2015). A plaintiff must produce evidence that he inhaled asbestos from the defendant's own product, and unlabeled gloves cannot be tied to a defendant whose gloves were labeled. A Pierringer release of a settling distributor also releases a strict liability claim against a non-settling defendant in the same chain of distribution.
• Suoja v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. (2015). Objections to a plaintiff's status as the estate's special administrator and to the claim's mootness under state-law requirements are not jurisdictional and can be forfeited if not timely raised. A settlement of an earlier case does not "determine" an issue, so it cannot support issue preclusion under Wisconsin law.