Mesothelioma: Asbestos Court Decisions

Decisions in our case-law library that involve mesothelioma: 2,859 cases, by state. Each line gives the exposure the court described, or else what it decided. For the topic itself, see Mesothelioma.

Louisiana

• Hernandez v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. (2020). The court denied Jesse Hernandez's motion to remand, so the Avondale Interests (Huntington Ingalls and related defendants) kept the case in federal court under the federal officer removal statute.
• Holmes v. Bossier (2020). The district court denied the plaintiffs' motion to remand, holding that Huntington Ingalls and Bossier timely removed the case under the federal officer removal statute within thirty days of the Fifth Circuit's en banc Latiolais decision.
• Hsieh v. Apache Deepwater, LLC (2020). The district court denied plaintiff David Hsieh's motion for reconsideration of its order denying remand, leaving in place federal OCSLA jurisdiction and the removal by defendants Apache Deepwater and ENSCO.
• Jackson v. Avondale Industries, Inc. (2020). The district court granted Hopeman Brothers' motion for reconsideration, vacated its earlier order remanding the case to state court, and denied plaintiff Patricia Jackson's motion to strike Hopeman's exhibits, finding federal officer removal jurisdiction.
• Jackson v. Avondale Industries, Inc. (2020). The court granted Patricia Jackson's motion to remand and the Avondale Defendants' motion to withdraw their notice of removal, sending the case back to Orleans Parish Civil District Court because she had settled with the removing defendants.
• Joseph v. Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (2020). The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the trial court's denial of the exception of res judicata, sustained the exception as to the survival action (a win for Huntington Ingalls and Lamorak against the Joseph children), and remanded for further proceedings.
• Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Incorporated (2020). The en banc Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's order remanding the case to state court and remanded for further proceedings in federal court, ruling for Avondale (Huntington Ingalls) and against Latiolais on removal.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc (2020). The court granted Exxon Mobil's motion for summary judgment, dismissing the Lopez plaintiffs' negligence and strict liability claims against Exxon as a premises owner, because Exxon owed no duty and had no care, custody or control of the asbestos.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc (2020). The court denied Crosby Valves' motion for summary judgment, finding Mr. Lopez's deposition admissible against Crosby and enough evidence of exposure and substantial-factor causation for the plaintiffs' claims to proceed.
• Lopez v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2020). The court denied Fisher Controls International's motion for summary judgment, so the Lopez plaintiffs' claims against Fisher go forward.
• McAllister v. McDERMOTT, Inc. (2020). The court denied defendant Nash Engineering's motion for partial summary judgment on the McAllister plaintiffs' damages claims, but limited recovery of loss of income and household services to the surviving spouse as executrix of the estate.
• Michel v. Ford Motor Company (2020). The magistrate judge granted the Michel plaintiffs' motion for leave to file a second supplemental and amended complaint adding Ford Leasing Development Company, LLC as a defendant, over Ford Motor Company's opposition.
• Rodrigue v. Travelers Insurance Company (4th Circuit, 2020). The appeals court reversed the district court's denial of Mr. Rodrigue's motion for refund of the unused jury deposit and remanded, so he was entitled to the deposit less $1,500.00 in jury costs.
• Roussell v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. (2020). The district court denied plaintiff Marsha Roussell's motion to remand, holding that the Avondale Interests (Huntington Ingalls and Lamorak) properly removed the case under the federal-officer statute, so the case stays in federal court.
• Sampey v. Huntington Ingalls Inc. (2020). The court denied plaintiff Ethel Sampey's motion to remand, holding that the Avondale Interests' federal-officer removal was timely and rested on a colorable Boyle defense.
• 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.
• Williams v. Seidenbach (2020). The en banc Fifth Circuit held that the district court validly entered partial final judgment under Rule 54(b) for Taylor Seidenbach and McCarty, so the Williamses' appeal could proceed, and returned the cases to the panel for a ruling on the merits.
• Williams v. Taylor Seidenbach, Incorporated (2020). The en banc Fifth Circuit held that the district court properly entered partial final judgment under Rule 54(b) for Taylor Seidenbach and McCarty after the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the remaining defendants, so appellate jurisdiction existed, and returned the appeals to the panel to decide the merits.
• Bagwell v. Union Carbide Corporation (4th Circuit, 2019). The appeals court affirmed the jury's finding that Union Carbide and Montello were not at fault and the trial court's evidence and instruction rulings, but raised the survival-action general damages against RMC Holdings, increasing the total award from $1,265,000 to $1,498,333.34 in favor of the Bagwell plaintiffs.
• Bannister v. Sfb Companies, Inc. (1st Circuit, 2019). The appeal was dismissed, and on SYSTRA Engineering's writ application the court reversed the trial court's denial of SYSTRA's exception of lack of personal jurisdiction, sustained the exception and dismissed SYSTRA from the suit brought by the Bannister heirs.
• 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.
• Calamia v. Parish of Jefferson (5th Circuit, 2019). The appeals court vacated the trial court's judgment granting the Parish of Jefferson's exception of prescription, which had dismissed the Calamia children's claims, and remanded for further proceedings.
• 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.
• Courville v. Lamorak Insurance Company (4th Circuit, 2019). The appeals court granted the plaintiffs' writ application and reversed the trial court's summary judgment that had dismissed the claims against Liberty Mutual, ruling that the 2013 settlement with Reilly-Benton could not be enforced against the tort victims.
• Craft v. Ports America Gulfport, Inc. (4th Circuit, 2019). The appeals court affirmed the $1,600,000 general damages award and the denial of JNOV on negligence against Crowley Marine Services and James J. Flanagan Shipping, but reversed the JNOV that had struck the jury's $1,000,000 future medical expenses award and reinstated that award for Craft.
• In re Friede Goldman Halter, Inc. (2019). The bankruptcy court granted Forrest Lewis, Jr.'s motion to remand, permissively abstaining and sending his suit against Trinity Industries back to the Louisiana state court after Trinity removed it.
• 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.
• Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Incorporated (2019). The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's order remanding the case to Louisiana state court, ruling for plaintiff Latiolais and against Avondale (Huntington Ingalls) because circuit precedent required a causal nexus that Avondale had not shown; one judge dissented.
• 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.
• McMaster v. Union Carbide Corp. (4th Circuit, 2019). The appeals court granted the writ of Union Carbide and Montello and modified the trial court's denial of their motion to quash, so that plaintiff McMaster must identify specific topics for the corporate witnesses, while otherwise upholding the trial subpoenas.
• 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.
• Schindler v. Dravo Basic Materials Company, Incorporated (2019). The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's exclusion of plaintiff Schindler's two specific-causation experts and its summary judgment for defendant Dravo Basic Materials.
• Sizemore v. Reilly-Benton Company, Inc. (4th Circuit, 2019). The court of appeal affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiff's claims against Viking Pump without prejudice, which mooted Viking's pending summary judgment motion; Viking lost and the plaintiff prevailed.
• Succession OF Adams (2nd Circuit, 2019). The appeals court affirmed summary judgment for Nancy Megas, executrix of Jacob Adams's succession, against legatee Diane Peoples, holding that the wrongful death and survival claims were not succession assets and the will's bequest of a share of the lawsuit was ineffective.
• Williams v. Taylor Seidenbach, Incorporated (2019). The Fifth Circuit dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction, so Taylor-Seidenbach and McCarty kept the MDL court's summary judgment; a later Rule 54(b) judgment did not cure the finality defect.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fagot v. Dow Chemical Company (1st Circuit, 2018). The appeals court affirmed partial summary judgment for Honeywell, holding that Turner must defend and indemnify it, affirmed denial of Turner's own summary judgment motion, and denied Turner's writ application.
• 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.