Illinois Asbestos Case Law

Asbestos decisions from Illinois's courts and the federal courts there: 151 cases in our library so far. For what the law requires today, see Illinois asbestos laws; for where exposure happened, see Illinois asbestos exposure sites.

State appeals courts

Illinois Appellate Court

• Boldini v. Owens Corning (4th District, 2001). The appellate court reversed the trial court's summary judgment for Sprinkmann Sons Corporation of Illinois and remanded, holding the construction statute of repose did not bar plaintiffs' claims based on Sprinkmann's sale and distribution of asbestos products.
• Burns v. AP Green Industries, Inc. (5th District, 2001). The appellate court reversed the trial court's denial of the defendants' motions to transfer and remanded with directions to transfer the case from Madison County to Shelby County, Illinois, ruling for the defendants.
• Dykstra v. AP Green Industries, Inc. (5th District, 2001). The appellate court affirmed the Madison County trial court's denial of the defendants' motion to dismiss or transfer on forum non conveniens grounds, so plaintiff Dykstra kept his chosen forum and defendants Burns, Certain-Teed, Pfizer, Quigley and Union Carbide lost.
• King v. Paul J. Krez Co. (1st District, 5th Division, 2001). The appellate court affirmed summary judgment for insulation contractors Krez and Brand, holding the widow's wrongful death claim was barred by the 10-year construction statute of repose.
• Burgess v. Abex Corp. EX rel. Pneumo Abex (4th District, 2000). On remand from the Illinois Supreme Court in light of McClure, the appellate court reversed the judgment against Abex and remanded for a new trial, and reversed the judgment against Pittsburgh Corning and ordered judgment entered in its favor.
• Burgess v. Abex Corp. (4th District, 1999). The appellate court affirmed the jury verdict and judgment for plaintiffs (the Burgess estate and Francis Burgess) against Abex Corporation and Pittsburgh Corning Corporation on a civil conspiracy theory.
• Spain v. Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp. (4th District, 1999). The appellate court affirmed the $1.8 million jury verdict for plaintiff Shirley Spain against Owens Corning Fiberglass, rejecting its challenges to causation, evidence exclusion, the jury instruction, and the denial of a new trial or remittitur.
• Westinghouse Airbrake Co. v. Indus. Com'n (3rd District, Industrial Commission Division, 1999). The court dismissed the Brook appeal for want of a valid Commission decision and remanded it, held that Lyle Heller's claims could not proceed under the Workers' Compensation Act (dismissed them) while Bertha Heller's death-benefit claim could and was remanded to the Commission, and found the circuit court had jurisdiction over Bertha's appeal.
• McClure v. Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp. (4th District, 1998). The appellate court affirmed the jury verdicts for plaintiffs Bicknell, Thacker and McClure against Owens Corning Fiberglas and (in McClure) Owens-Illinois, and remanded only so the trial court could apply setoffs for settlements with other defendants.
• Risch v. Paul J. Krez Co. (1st District, 6th Division, 1997). The appellate court affirmed summary judgment for Paul J. Krez Co., holding the construction statute of repose barred the estates' wrongful death claims; the plaintiffs lost.
• Van Winkle v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (4th District, 1997). The appellate court reversed the jury verdicts for the Van Winkle and Hicks plaintiffs against Owens-Corning Fiberglas because the trial court did not properly answer the jury's question on conspiracy, and remanded for a new trial.
• Barry v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1st District, 1st Division, 1996). The appellate court affirmed the judgment on the jury's roughly $12.3 million verdict (reduced to about $11 million for settlements) for the Barry estate against Owens-Corning Fiberglas, rejecting OCF's challenges to the videotape, instructions, verdict form and damages amount.
• Nelson v. Keene Corp. (1st District, 1st Division, 1996). The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's dismissal of the Nelson and Dunning actions for lack of jurisdiction, ruling for the defendant companies and against the plaintiffs.
• WR Grace & Co. v. Csr Ltd. (3rd District, 1996). The appellate court affirmed the trial court's denial of CSR Limited's motion to dismiss, holding that Illinois courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over CSR in Helen Ensey's wrongful death suit.
• Hefner v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (5th District, 1995). The appellate court affirmed the Madison County trial court's denial of Owens-Corning Fiberglas's motion to reconsider transfer to Massac County for forum non conveniens, so the plaintiff kept his chosen forum, and remanded the case.
• Costa v. Dresser Industries, Inc. (3rd District, 1994). The appellate court affirmed the judgment for defendants A.P. Green, Sprinkmann Sons, E.D. Bullard, Dresser Industries, Magid Manufacturing and Fibreboard, rejecting the widow's claims of trial error and her sanctions request.
• Hartman v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp. (5th District, 1994). The appellate court affirmed the Madison County judgment for the plaintiff (James Hartman's estate) against Pittsburgh Corning, including the punitive damages award, and rejected all of Pittsburgh Corning's claims of error.
• Keystone Steel and Wire Co. v. Costa (3rd District, 1994). The appellate court affirmed the judgment against Owens-Corning (including the new trial limited to wrongful death damages) and affirmed the denial of Keystone Steel & Wire's petitions for subpoena-compliance expenses, so the plaintiff and the trial court's rulings prevailed.
• Kieffer and Co., Inc. v. Industrial Com'n (2nd District, Industrial Commission Division, 1994). The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's judgments confirming the Industrial Commission: Kieffer and Company stayed liable for the widow's death benefits, and the widow lost her claim for temporary total disability benefits.
• US Gypsum Co. v. Admiral Ins. Co. (1st District, 5th Division, 1994). The appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part: it upheld the finding that the insurers must indemnify U.S. Gypsum for the eight school-building asbestos property damage cases and the exhaustion ruling for excess insurers, but rejected the discovery trigger and the multiple-occurrence ruling and remanded for a continuous trigger and a single occurrence per policy period.
• Adcock v. Brakegate, Ltd. (4th District, 1993). Affirmed the judgment on the $213,811.79 verdict for the plaintiff executor against Owens-Corning Fiberglas, upholding denial of OCF's motion to dismiss the civil conspiracy counts and the default judgment on liability entered as a sanction.
• Campbell v. AC Equipment Services Corporation, Inc. (4th District, 1993). The appellate court affirmed the dismissal of the third-amended complaint, ruling for A.C. Equipment, Alemi, the City of Springfield and its employees against the five plaintiff workers, because no count adequately pleaded a cause of action.
• Kurrack v. American Dist. Telegraph Co. (1st District, 5th Division, 1993). The appellate court affirmed the judgment entered on the jury verdict for American District Telegraph Co. against plaintiff Jane Kurrack, finding no reversible error in the jury instructions or evidentiary rulings.
• Betts v. Manville Personal Injury Trust (4th District, 1992). The appellate court reversed the plaintiffs' jury judgments against the Manville Trust and against Grefco and remanded for new trials, but affirmed the dismissals, summary judgment, directed verdicts and setoff ruling that went against Dietrich, Smith, the Mendiolas and Stewart.
• Whitney v. Industrial Com'n (4th District, Industrial Commission Division, 1992). The appellate court affirmed the Industrial Commission's dismissal of Velda Whitney's death-benefits claim against C. Iber & Sons as untimely, because her husband had no disablement within three years of his last asbestos exposure.
• In re Asbestos Cases (1st District, 5th Division, 1991). The appellate court dismissed Allied Signal's appeal from the order creating the asbestos deferred registry for lack of jurisdiction, because the order was not an appealable injunction; the plaintiffs and the other defendants who supported the order prevailed.
• Thacker v. Unr Industries, Inc. (4th District, 1991). The appellate court affirmed the jury verdict judgments for plaintiff Lois Thacker against the Manville Corporation Asbestos Disease Compensation Fund, rejecting its requests for judgment n.o.v. and a new trial.
• Wehmeier v. Unr Industries, Inc. (4th District, 1991). The appellate court reversed all the judgments, both those for plaintiffs Wehmeier, Bratcher, Schultz and Cochran and those for the Fund against Gray and Tynan, and remanded for a new trial.
• Leng v. Celotex Corp. (1st District, 1990). The appellate court affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the market share liability counts against Celotex and the other defendants, refusing to adopt market share liability in Illinois asbestos cases.
• Owens Corning Fiberglas v. Ind. Comm'n (4th District, 1990). The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's judgment, which upheld the Industrial Commission's death-benefit award to the widow, Charlotte Hammond, against Owens Corning Fiberglas and denied Owens Corning credit for her loss of consortium recovery.
• Naden v. Celotex Corp. (1st District, 1989). The appellate court affirmed summary judgment for Celotex, Flintkote, Keene and Eagle-Picher because the plaintiff, the widow of a mesothelioma victim, offered no evidence that the defendants' products were used where her husband worked.
• Blazek v. Nicolet, Inc. (1st District, 1988). Affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the strict liability counts against Nicolet and the other asbestos defendants as barred by the statute of repose; the plaintiff's estate lost.
• H & H Plumbing Co. v. Indus. Comm'n (5th District, 1988). Affirmed the circuit court's confirmation of the Industrial Commission's award of temporary total disability and 10% permanent disability benefits to claimant Carl Wade against employer H & H Plumbing.
• VaSalle v. Celotex Corp. (1st District, 1987). The appellate court reversed the trial court's summary judgment for the defendant asbestos-insulation companies and remanded, holding the estate's lung cancer claim was not shown to be time-barred.
• Zupan v. Industrial Com. (5th District, 1986). The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's reversal of the Industrial Commission's denial of benefits, ruling for claimant Paul Zupan and against his employer National Steel.
• Zurich Ins. Co. v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1st District, 1986). The appellate court affirmed most of the trial court's coverage rulings in favor of Raymark, but modified and reversed in part for the insurers, holding that Zurich and the pre-1966 insurers had no duty to defend after exhausting their limits and clarifying that excess insurer Northbrook only pays defense costs against its limits.
• Costello v. Unarco Industries, Inc. (4th District, 1984). The appellate court affirmed the dismissal of Marion Costello's strict liability counts as barred by the statute of repose and of her negligence counts as insufficiently pleaded, so the defendants, including H.K. Porter Company, won.
• Froud v. Celotex Corporation (1st District, 1982). The appellate court reversed the trial court's dismissal of the punitive damages counts and remanded, ruling for the plaintiff administrators and against the asbestos defendants including Celotex.
• Nolan v. Johns-Manville Asbestos & Magnesia Materials Co. (1st District, 1979). The appellate court reversed the summary judgment that the circuit court had granted to all defendants on limitations grounds and remanded, so the plaintiff estate may proceed and a fact-finder will decide when Nolan knew or should have known of his asbestosis.

Federal appeals courts

U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

• Johnson v. Edward Orton, JR. Ceramic Foundation (2023). The Seventh Circuit reversed summary judgment for Orton and remanded, holding that a jury could find Orton owed Bruce Johnson a duty before and after September 1981; it declined to reach causation.
• Amling v. Harrow Industries LLC (2019). The Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal, without prejudice, of the Amlings' federal declaratory judgment action against Harrow, holding the dispute was ripe but the district court properly declined to hear it.
• Betzner v. Boeing Co. (2018). The Seventh Circuit reversed the district court's sua sponte remand to Illinois state court and remanded for further proceedings, holding Boeing's notice of removal was sufficient; Boeing won and the Betzners lost on this point.
• Krik v. Exxon Mobil Corp. (2017). The Seventh Circuit affirmed the judgment for Exxon Mobil and Owens-Illinois after a jury found cigarettes were the sole cause of Krik's lung cancer, holding that excluding Dr. Frank's causation testimony and the Helsinki document was not an abuse of discretion and that the juror investigation did not prejudice Krik.

Federal district courts

U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois

• Hicks v. Ford Motor Company (2020). The district court denied Roy Hicks's motion to remand, finding that non-diverse defendant John Crane was fraudulently joined, so Ford Motor Company's removal to federal court stood.
• Amling v. Schlage Lock Co. (2019). The court dismissed the Amlings' federal declaratory judgment suit against Schlage Lock and Harrow Industries without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and alternatively declined to hear it as a matter of discretion.
• Harrow Industries LLC v. Nexus Corporation (2018). The court granted Nexus Corporation's motion to dismiss Harrow Industries' contract complaint for failure to plausibly allege liability, but allowed Harrow limited discovery and leave to file an amended complaint.
• State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. WR Grace & Co. (1993). The district court denied W.R. Grace's motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial, leaving State Farm's $17,889,632.47 jury award (with State Farm found 30 percent negligent) in place.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

• JM Manufacturing Company, Inc. v. Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLP (2025). The court granted the motion of Simmons Hanly Conroy and its attorneys and staff to dismiss J-M Manufacturing's RICO counts for failure to plead a distinct enterprise, and dismissed the state law counts without prejudice.
• Pelton v. John Crane, Inc. (2024). The court granted John Crane's summary judgment motion on the willful and wanton conduct count (Count II) but denied it on negligence and strict liability, so the Peltons may proceed on those counts and may seek punitive damages.
• Lishman v. Air & Liquid Systems Corporation (2022). The court granted Alfa Laval's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, ruling that it had not waived the defense, so the plaintiffs' claims against Alfa Laval were dismissed.