Asbestos and Throat and Esophageal Cancer: Asbestos Court Decisions

Decisions in our case-law library that involve throat and laryngeal cancer: 11 cases, by state. Each line gives the exposure the court described, or else what it decided. For the topic itself, see Asbestos and Throat and Esophageal Cancer.

California

• Haver v. BNSF Railway Co. (2nd Appellate District, 5th Division, 2014). The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's judgment sustaining BNSF Railway's demurrer without leave to amend, holding BNSF owed no duty to the decedent, so the survivors lost.

District of Columbia

• Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Henkel (1997). The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments for the plaintiffs against Owens-Corning Fiberglas, rejecting its Batson, state-of-the-art evidence and statute of limitations challenges.

Louisiana

• Watts v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. (1st Circuit, 2013). The appeals court amended the judgment to cut the Watts' damages award against Hebert Brothers to one-half (its virile share, with Dow bearing the other half) and otherwise affirmed the jury's $3,625,000 survival award for the plaintiffs, rejecting Hebert Brothers' prescription and excessive-damages arguments.

Maryland

• Adams v. Owens-Illinois (1998). The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the Baltimore City jury verdicts, which were for the defendants in seven cases and for the plaintiffs in the Parsons and Drebing mesothelioma cases, and ordered the appellants to pay costs.

North Carolina

• Wise v. Alcoa, Inc. (2013). The Court of Appeals affirmed the Industrial Commission's denial of the estate's workers' compensation claim against Alcoa, finding the plaintiff failed to prove that asbestos caused the decedent's esophageal cancer.

Ohio

• Nuckols v. Consol. Rail Corp. (6th Appellate District, 2022). The court reversed the trial court's summary judgment for Consolidated Rail Corporation and CSX Transportation, which had held Randy Nuckols's FELA claim time-barred, and remanded for further proceedings.
• Penn v. A-Best Prods. Co. (10th Appellate District, 2007). The appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part the trial court's denial of the plaintiffs' motions to prove a prima facie case under H.B. 292. It reversed as to Ward's non-smoker lung cancer claim and the colon and laryngeal cancer claims, and remanded for a determination of whether those claims accrued under the 'should have known' clause; defendants largely lost on the statutory issues.
• O'stricker v. Jim Walter Corp. (1983). The Ohio Supreme Court ruled for the plaintiff, holding the action timely under a discovery rule, and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings on the merits against the asbestos-product defendants.

Other federal courts

• In re Federal-Mogul Global, Inc. (2002). The Third Circuit held it lacked jurisdiction to review the District Court's denial of transfer and remand of the friction-product asbestos claims to state courts, and denied the automakers' and other defendants' requests for mandamus.

Pennsylvania

• Coward v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1999). The Superior Court affirmed the trial court's denial of Owens-Corning's motions for judgment n.o.v. and a new trial, leaving the plaintiffs' verdicts and the judgment entered for them in place.

Tennessee

• Russell v. Illinois Central Railroad Company (2015). The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury verdict for the widow, Linda Russell, against Illinois Central Railroad, rejecting the railroad's challenges to expert testimony, causation, evidentiary rulings, limitations and the new-trial motions. It also upheld the trial court's $919,315 set-off for medical expenses, so the widow's cross-appeal failed.