Lea DiRusso, the career city teacher diagnosed last year with a deadly asbestos-linked cancer, is in line to be paid $850,000 by the Philadelphia School District. The school board on Thursday night will consider a resolution allowing the district “to execute, deliver, and perform a settlement agreement” with DiRusso and Amr Osman, her husband, … [Read more...]
Asbestos Case Beats Statute of Limitations
A federal judge has denied a pump manufacturer’s argument that an asbestos-related lung cancer case should be tossed because it wasn’t filed in time. As asbestos litigation continues its steady decline and fewer lawsuits against companies for asbestos-related illnesses make it past the early stages of litigation, plaintiff Kathleen Conneen’s case … [Read more...]
Justices OK Expert Opinion on Asbestos, Seeing No Breach of ‘Any Exposure’ Ban
Experts testifying in asbestos trials need not compare the exposure of one defendant’s products to a plaintiff’s overall exposure, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Nov. 22. The majority reasoned that noncomparative testimony did not violate the ban against using “any exposure” causation theories. The ruling affirmed the Superior Court’s … [Read more...]
Criminality and Asbestos in Industry
Criminal prosecutions of individuals in the asbestos industry are reviewed, particularly the case of asbestos owner-executive Stephan Schmidheiny. Italian courts sentenced Schmidheiny to sixteen to eighteen years in jail for creating an environmental disaster causing three thousand deaths. The convictions were overturned on a technicality, and a … [Read more...]
Boeing Can Take Asbestos Case to Federal Court Under Contractor Defense
The Boeing Co. is entitled to the military contractor defense from liability in a suit claiming it failed to warn of the dangers of asbestos, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled on Tuesday. The appeals panel reversed the decision of a U.S. district court judge in New Jersey who granted the plaintiff's motion to send the case … [Read more...]
Is Asbestos Trial Consolidation Ending in Philadelphia
Defense attorneys have long said the practice of consolidating asbestos trials in Philadelphia gives the plaintiffs’ bar an unfair advantage, but some are now looking to a recent state Supreme Court decision as an indication that the consolidation of asbestos trials might be on its way out. The practice of consolidating trials began more than 25 … [Read more...]