Business Law Business Law Resources Toxic Tort

ILLINOIS EMPLOYERS NO LONGER HAVE IMMUNITY FROM ASBESTOS LAWSUITS BROUGHT BY FORMER EMPLOYEES

On May 17 , 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that lifted restrictions for workers suffering from occupational diseases resulting from exposure to toxic substances such as mesothelioma and lung cancer resulting from asbestos exposure for filing civil actions against their former employers. Supported primarily…
Business Law Business Law Resources

U.S. SUPREME COURT MAKES IT EASIER TO SEEK DAMAGES AGAINST DEFENDANTS WHO ONLY SUPPLIED METAL PARTS TO BE SUED IN MARITIME CASES

On March 29, 2019, the United States Supreme Court made it easier for asbestos plaintiffs to recover damages against a group of defendants who never sold or supplied any asbestos materials. In Air & Liquid Systems Corp., v. DeVries, the Supreme Court held that so…
Toxic Tort

ASBESTOS PLAINTIFF EXPERTS CAN’T TESTIFY EVERY EXPOSURE IS A CUMULATIVE CAUSE OF CANCER

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently decided that a major type of testimony traditionally used by asbestos plaintiff’s medical experts to attribute a cancer’s causation to each and any exposure to asbestos (no matter how long or intense) is unavailable…
Business Law

HAS THE U.S. SUPREME COURT PUT AN END TO LAWSUIT TOURISM ONCE AND FOR ALL? OR “3 STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT [OF THIS JURISDICTION]”

A General Counsel knows the situation all too well. He or she receives word that the Company has been named as part of a multi-plaintiff case in a plaintiff friendly jurisdiction which has nothing to do with the underlying facts, and most of the plaintiffs…
Business Law

SEVENTH CIRCUIT SAYS PLAINTIFFS CAN’T ESCAPE WORKERS COMP EXCLUSIVITY BY ARGUING NEIGHBORHOOD/COMMUNITY ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

Under a new Illinois case, plaintiffs cannot avoid the restrictions of a state’s workers’ compensation statute by claiming exposure to asbestos in the plant’s neighborhood ambient air caused their asbestos related disease, rather than the exposures that occurred during their long employment history. The Seventh…
Products Liability

CORPORATE DEFENDANTS BEWARE – MISSOURI APPELLATE COURT AFFIRMS $10 MILLION PUNITIVE DAMAGE VERDICT IN ASBESTOS CASE WITH ONLY “CIRCUMSTANTIAL” EVIDENCE OF KNOWLEDGE BY THE DEFENDANT OF THE HAZARD

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, on May 2, 2017, affirmed a $10 million dollar punitive damages verdict, as well as a $1.5 million actual damages verdict, against Crane Co. in Poage v. Crane Co., No. ED103953 (Mo. App. E.D. 2017). This case is…
Business Law Business Law Resources

Big change in Missouri Personal Jurisdiction Law for Non-Missouri Corporations

The Missouri Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision filed on February 28, 2017, held that non-Missouri corporations would not be held subject to the personal general jurisdiction of Missouri courts in civil suits, unless the corporation was organized under Missouri law, had its principal place…
Environmental Law

Employers and Product Suppliers Beware: Is Welding Rod Litigation Going to Come Back

The publication of a new study in Neurology, that contends the long-term effects of airborne manganese from welding may be associated with an increasing appearance of Parkinsonism symptoms in welders and other exposed individuals, may resurrect a species of toxic tort litigation that was thought…