Michigan Asbestos Case Law

Asbestos decisions from Michigan's courts and the federal courts there: 21 cases in our library so far. For what the law requires today, see Michigan asbestos laws; for where exposure happened, see Michigan asbestos exposure sites.

State supreme court

Michigan Supreme Court

• In re Certified Question From the Fourteenth District Court OF Appeals OF Texas (2007). The Michigan Supreme Court answered a certified question from a Texas appeals court in the negative, holding that Ford owed no duty to Carolyn Miller, which favored Ford and went against the Miller plaintiffs' $9.5 million Texas verdict theory.
• Brisboy v. Fibreboard Corp. (1988). The Michigan Supreme Court upheld the denial of Fibreboard's motion for directed verdict, but held the lower courts wrongly disregarded the jury's finding that Rand was 55% negligent, and remanded for judgment with damages apportioned under the jury's verdict.
• Larson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1986). The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of all four wrongful death suits to the extent they rested on asbestosis, because they were filed too late, but held that the Glazier and Revard cancer claims against the asbestos manufacturers could proceed.

State appeals courts

Michigan Court of Appeals

• Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Inc. v. 37th Circuit Court Judge (2008). On remand from the Michigan Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals denied Grand Trunk Western Railroad's complaint for superintending control, so the trial court could try the two asbestos cases at once before separate juries; one judge dissented.
• Chapin v. A & L Parts, Inc. (2007). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's ruling admitting plaintiffs' expert Dr. Lemen's causation testimony, so DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors and Honeywell lost their challenge to the Chapins' expert evidence (one judge dissented).
• Jaqua v. Canadian Nat. RR, Inc. (2007). The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's denial of summary disposition and held that the release Jaqua signed barred his estate's FELA claim against Canadian National Railroad for his lung cancer, so the railroad won.
• Beaudrie v. Anchor Packing Co. (1998). The Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court's orders on remand, which let the employers and the dust fund keep their workers' compensation liens against the widows' wrongful death recoveries, and the widows lost on every point they raised.
• Allen v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1997). The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury verdict for the plaintiff estate against Owens-Corning Fiberglas, holding that excluding evidence of other asbestos exposures was error but harmless, and that the directed verdict and warning rulings were not error.
• Faulkner Const. v. Silicosis Fund (1997). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Workers' Compensation Appellate Commission's ruling that the Silicosis, Dust Disease, and Logging Industry Compensation Fund was not liable, because employer Faulkner Construction and its insurer Wausau had not shown that peritoneal mesothelioma threatened its industry.
• Beaudrie v. Anchor Packing Co. (1994). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's application of the compensation fund's lien to loss-of-consortium damages, reversed it as to the recoveries of the decedents' adult nondependent children, and held the fund waived its cross-appeal about the allocation of settlement proceeds.
• Larson v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1985). The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the defendants (Johns-Manville Sales Corp. and Fibreboard Corp.) in all four wrongful death actions, holding them time-barred and leaving the plaintiffs without recovery.

Federal district courts

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

• Kachman v. Standard Fuel Engineering Company (2023). The court granted the plaintiffs' motion to remand all seven asbestos personal injury actions to Wayne County Circuit Court, finding the defendants (Standard Fuel Engineering and Spence Brothers) failed to show federal-question jurisdiction.
• Pyscher v. US (2017). The court granted the United States' motion to dismiss Lawrence Pyscher's Federal Tort Claims Act negligence/malpractice complaint and dismissed it with prejudice.
• Ely v. Dearborn Heights School District NO. 7 (2015). The court dismissed the claims against the Dearborn Heights School District for lack of a policy or custom, but denied summary judgment to the individual defendants Bartold and Thieken (including on qualified immunity) and denied the plaintiff's own motion, leaving her First Amendment claims for trial.
• King v. Ridenour (2010). The court granted Waters & Kraus, LLP's motion to dismiss in part and dismissed the plaintiffs' malpractice and contract claims against the firm for lack of personal jurisdiction, without ruling on the failure-to-state-a-claim argument.
• Anjeski v. Keene Bldg. & Development Co. (1989). The district court granted summary judgment to defendants Keene, Celotex and Owens-Illinois, ruling that plaintiff Irene Anjeski's sole product identification deposition could not support a jury finding that her husband was exposed to their products.
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1988). The court granted the remaining defendants' (Celotex, Fibreboard, Keene, Pittsburg Corning) renewed motion for judgment, ruling that plaintiff Deborah Marshall could not proceed on a concert of action theory without showing any defendant supplied asbestos products to the naval station.
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987). The district court stayed the case and certified to the Michigan Supreme Court the question of whether a plaintiff proceeding on a concert of action theory must show that at least one tortious defendant actually supplied asbestos to the decedent's workplace, without deciding the final outcome between Marshall's estate and the defendants.
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987). The court denied the defendant asbestos manufacturers' motion for summary judgment, allowing the plaintiff's concert-of-action theory to go to trial.
• Marshall v. Celotex Corp. (1987). The court granted the defendant manufacturers' summary judgment motions on the alternative liability, market share liability and enterprise liability theories, and held the motion on the concert of action theory in abeyance pending a hearing on causation.
• Ins. Co. of No. Am. v. Forty-Eight Insulations (1978). After a trial, the court held that the exposure theory governs coverage, so every insurer on the risk during a claimant's exposure must share defense and indemnity for Forty-Eight Insulations, with Forty-Eight bearing shares for uninsured years. This rejected the manifestation theory urged by INA, Affiliated FM, Illinois National and Liberty Mutual.