North Dakota Asbestos Case Law

Asbestos decisions from North Dakota's courts and the federal courts there: 5 cases in our library so far. For what the law requires today, see North Dakota asbestos laws; for where exposure happened, see North Dakota asbestos exposure sites.

State supreme court

North Dakota Supreme Court

• Palmer v. 999 Quebec, Inc. (2016). The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for A.W. Kuettel & Sons, dismissing Deborah Palmer's negligence claim over her husband's take-home asbestos exposure, because she raised no genuine issue of fact showing Kuettel owed a duty.
• Black v. Abex Corp. (1999). The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Allied-Signal, Borg-Warner, Chrysler and General Motors, dismissing Rochelle Black's market share and alternative liability claims.

Federal district courts

U.S. District Court, District of North Dakota

• Pyle v. AH Bennett Co. (2023). The magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motions to compel: plaintiffs Pyle and Frericks must say whether they investigated asbestos trust claims, but they will not be ordered to file trust claims or to amend their other discovery responses; defendants may serve more discovery.
• Pyle v. AH Bennett Co. (2022). The court denied the defendants' motions to enforce North Dakota's asbestos trust disclosure statute and to dismiss, without prejudice, but allowed defendants to serve federal discovery requests for trust information and extended the scheduling deadlines.
• Puppe By Puppe v. AC and S., Inc. (1990). The federal district court denied the defendants' motion to exclude any punitive damages claim, ruling that punitive damages may be sought in a North Dakota wrongful death action, and it adopted a procedure under which punitive damages are heard only after a plaintiff's verdict on liability and damages.