Louisiana Asbestos Case Law

Asbestos decisions from Louisiana's courts and the federal courts there: 582 cases in our library so far. For what the law requires today, see Louisiana asbestos laws; for where exposure happened, see Louisiana asbestos exposure sites.

Federal district courts

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

• Waguespack v. Avondale Industries, Inc. (2020). The court denied the plaintiffs' motion to remand, holding that Huntington Ingalls and Lamorak (Avondale) timely removed the case under the federal officer removal statute and did not waive removal.
• Bitco General Insurance Corporation V Dash Building Material Center, Inc. (2019). The court denied Dash Building Material Center's motion to abstain and dismiss, so BITCO's federal declaratory action against Dash continues.
• Bondurant v. 3M Company (2019). The court granted Gould Electronics' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, dismissing plaintiff Bondurant's claims against Gould without prejudice and denying jurisdictional discovery.
• Bondurant v. 3M Company (2019). The court granted Eastman Kodak Company's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and dismissed plaintiff Terry Bondurant's claims against Kodak without prejudice, denying jurisdictional discovery.
• Bondurant v. 3M Company (2019). The court denied Terry Bondurant's motion to remand, holding that General Electric and CBS Corporation (Westinghouse) properly removed the case under the federal officer removal statute.
• Chevron Oronite Company v. Jacobs Field Services North America, Inc. (2019). After a bench trial on the papers, the court entered judgment for Chevron Oronite against Jacobs for the full $550,000 settlement of the Bourgeois asbestos suit, plus interest, attorney's fees and ordinary costs.
• Gomez v. Aardvark Contractors, Inc. (2019). The court granted Nicholls State's motion to dismiss the Jefferson Parish School Board's cross-claims on Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds and denied the motion as moot as to Huntington Ingalls, which had already dropped its cross-claims.
• Knight v. Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (2019). The court denied, without prejudice, the Knight family's motion to sever and remand and the intervenors' motion to remand or abstain, finding them premature and allowing further discovery and possible summary judgment motions; the Avondale defendants' removal stayed in place for now.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2019). The court denied the motions to dismiss by Exxon Mobil, Marathon, Chevron, Texaco, Emerson Electric and General Electric, and granted Goulds and ITT's motion only as to the Soliz survival claim (barred by the earlier dismissal) while denying it as to the Soliz wrongful death claims.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2019). The court found plaintiffs had not made a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction over ConocoPhillips, deferred ruling on its motion to dismiss, and ordered limited jurisdictional discovery with a July 22, 2019 deadline, failing which the motion would be granted.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Co. (2019). The court granted Ford Motor Company's motion to dismiss only as to plaintiffs' wrongful death employer liability claim, which was dismissed with prejudice, and otherwise denied it, so plaintiffs' other wrongful death claims against Ford continue.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Co. (2019). The court granted Ford's motion to quash the trial subpoena to Matthew Fyie, granted plaintiffs leave to designate Fyie's deposition testimony, and granted Ford's motion to strike plaintiffs' late objections to Ford's counterdesignations of Victor Michel's testimony.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Co. (2019). The court granted the plaintiffs' motion to amend their complaint to add survival, wrongful death, premises and employer liability claims against Ford, found strict products liability claims already pleaded, and said a continuance would cure prejudice to Ford.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Company (2019). The court denied Ford's and Cummins's motions to exclude or limit the expert testimony of Dr. Staggs, Dr. Finkelstein and Christopher Depasquale, so the plaintiffs' experts may testify.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Company (2019). The court denied Cummins Inc.'s and Ford Motor Company's joint motion for summary judgment, so the plaintiffs (Michel's survivors) keep their claims against both defendants.
• Parfait v. Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (2019). The court granted Charles Parfait's motion to remand to Orleans Parish state court because the Avondale defendants' federal officer removal was untimely, and denied his request for costs, fees and Rule 11 sanctions.
• Rodrigue v. Anco Insulations, Inc. (2019). The court granted summary judgment to the remaining Joint Defendants and Burmaster Land & Development, dismissing the plaintiffs' and Huntington Ingalls' claims against them with prejudice, because no one opposed the motions.
• Savoie v. Huntington Ingalls (2019). The court granted the Avondale Interests' motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed with prejudice the plaintiffs' wrongful death claims against them and Travelers Indemnity Company, leaving the survival claim in place.
• Savoie v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. (2019). The court granted in part and denied in part Avondale's motion, holding that five of eight earlier releases (Champion, Met Life, Amchem, Chesterton, A.P. Green) covered Savoie's future mesothelioma claim, while the B & W, Combustion Engineering and Garlock releases did not.
• Schindler v. Dravo Basic Materials Company (2019). The court excluded the specific-causation opinions of plaintiff's experts Dr. Harrison and Dr. Tarin as unreliable, granted summary judgment to defendant Dravo Basic Materials Company, and dismissed Schindler's Jones Act claim with prejudice.
• Brazan v. Lamorak Insurance Co. (2018). The court granted Joseph Brazan's motion to remand to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, holding that Union Carbide and Amchem failed to show complete diversity, and denied his request for costs, fees and sanctions.
• Brown v. Avondale Industries, Inc. (2018). The district court granted Gregory Brown's motion to remand and sent the case back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, rejecting Avondale's federal officer removal.
• Burkart v. PPG Industries, Inc. (2018). The court granted Raymond Burkart Jr.'s motion to remand and sent the case back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, rejecting Avondale's federal officer removal.
• Chevron Oronite Company LLC v. Jacobs Field Services North America, Inc. (2018). The court granted Chevron Oronite partial summary judgment on indemnity from Jacobs under three of four contracts and on attorney's fees, but denied it as to Contract K-2251, ordinary-cost recovery beyond clerk's costs, and settlement reasonableness; Jacobs won on those points.
• Gomez v. Aardvark Contractors, Inc. (2018). The court granted Nicholls State's motion to dismiss the executive officer liability, products liability and punitive damages claims (the last two unopposed), denied it as to Gomez's negligence and strict liability claims, and ordered service on the Office of Risk Management within 60 days.
• Guillot v. Avondale Industries, Inc. (2018). The court granted Linda Guillot's motion to remand and sent the case back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, rejecting Avondale's federal officer removal because it showed no causal nexus between federal direction and her claims.
• Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (2018). The district court granted James Latiolais's motion to remand and sent the case back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court, rejecting Avondale (Huntington Ingalls)'s federal officer removal.
• Leech v. 3M Company (2018). The court granted Taylor-Seidenbach, Inc.'s unopposed motion for summary judgment, dismissing the plaintiffs' claims against it for lack of evidence that it caused the decedent's mesothelioma.
• Leech v. 3M Company (2018). The court granted Honeywell International Inc.'s unopposed motion for summary judgment, dismissing the plaintiffs' claims against Honeywell as successor to Bendix, because plaintiffs offered no evidence that Honeywell was a cause-in-fact of the decedent's injury.
• Leech v. 3M Company (2018). The court denied Rohm and Haas Chemicals LLC's Rule 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction without prejudice, giving plaintiffs 30 days for jurisdictional discovery and 60 days to amend their complaint.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2018). The court granted McDermott, Inc.'s unopposed motion for summary judgment and dismissed the Lopez plaintiffs' claims against McDermott with prejudice.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2018). The district court denied Federico Lopez's motion to remand, ruling that federal jurisdiction existed under OCSLA, so Shell Oil and Tennessee Gas Pipeline prevailed on removal.
• Melancon v. Lamorak Insurance Company (2018). The court granted the Melancon family's motion to remand the case to state court, rejecting Huntington Ingalls' and the other defendants' federal officer removal.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Company (2018). The court granted Cummins's and Ford's motion to exclude plaintiffs' experts Dr. Brody and Dr. Castleman for late disclosure of their reports and denied plaintiffs' motion to amend the scheduling order.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Company (2018). The district court denied the plaintiffs' motion to remand, finding Louisiana defendant Taylor-Seidenbach was improperly joined and Cummins' removal was timely, so the case stays in federal court.
• Rivera v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. (2018). The district court granted summary judgment to Huntington Ingalls (Avondale), joined by other defendants, and dismissed with prejudice Judith Punch Rivera's wrongful death and survival claims as prescribed.
• Rivera v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. (2018). The court denied plaintiff Judith Punch Rivera's motion to remand, keeping the case in federal court under the Federal Officer Removal Statute and ruling for defendant Huntington Ingalls (Avondale).
• Rousseau v. Johnson & Johnson (2018). The court granted plaintiff Marilyn Rousseau's motion to remand and sent the case back to Louisiana state court, rejecting Johnson & Johnson's claim that the non-diverse defendant K&B was improperly joined.
• Schindler v. Dravo Basic Materials Company, Inc. (2018). The district court denied Dravo Basic Materials Company's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, so plaintiff Robert Schindler's Jones Act suit stays in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
• Uzee v. Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (2018). The court granted the plaintiffs' motion to remand to state court, finding that Avondale (Huntington Ingalls) timely removed but failed to show the causal nexus required for federal officer removal.
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court ruled that Louisiana law, not Idaho law, governs both the survival claim and the wrongful death claim (including punitive damages) for the alleged Idaho exposures, favoring the plaintiffs' position on choice of law.
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court ruled that, for the Idaho exposures, Louisiana law governs the survival claim (favoring the Bell plaintiffs) and Idaho law governs punitive damages on the wrongful death claim (favoring the defendants).
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court granted summary judgment to York International and Foster Wheeler Energy and dismissed the claims against them with prejudice, and denied summary judgment to General Electric, Crane, Air & Liquid Systems (Buffalo), Aurora Pump, Atwood & Morrill, CBS, IMO Industries and Warren Pumps.
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court denied the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration, leaving in place its exclusion of their experts' specific causation opinions, and clarified what the experts may say at trial.
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs' Daubert motions: defense experts Dr. Graham and Dr. Taragin may give general causation testimony but not specific causation opinions that the defendants' products did not cause Mr. Bell's mesothelioma.
• Bell v. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. (2017). The court granted in part and denied in part the defendants' partial summary judgment motion: it dismissed Vickie Campos's individual claims and John Bell's nonpecuniary wrongful death damages, but allowed the survival claim, Bell's pecuniary wrongful death claim, and the decedent's pre-death pain and suffering damages to proceed.
• Blouin v. Huntington Ingalls Inc. (2017). The district court granted the Blouin family's motion to remand and sent the case back to Louisiana state court, rejecting Huntington Ingalls (Avondale)'s federal officer removal.
• Leech v. 3M Co. (2017). The court denied plaintiff Margaret Leech's motion to remand and her request for attorneys' fees and costs, holding that Honeywell's removal before any defendant was served was proper.
• Leech v. 3M Company (2017). The court denied plaintiff Margaret Leech's motion to remand and her request for attorneys' fees, holding Honeywell's removal before any defendant was served was proper, so Honeywell and the other defendants prevailed.
• Legendre v. Huntington Ingalls Inc. (2017). The federal district court granted the Legendre brothers' motion to remand their wrongful death suit against Huntington Ingalls (Avondale) to Louisiana state court, rejecting Avondale's federal officer removal.