Quoted from http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/part-of-nearly-million-asbestos-judgment-vacated-by-judge/article_6439289c-f7bd-11e1-b26b-001a4bcf887a.html

Part of nearly $90 million asbestos judgment vacated by judge

2012-09-05

By Edith Brady-Lunny

BLOOMINGTON — A McLean County judge has reduced the jury award related to a 2011 verdict against four companies accused of exposing a man to asbestos from almost $90 million to $8.4 million.

Charles Gillenwater, 59, worked as pipe fitter when he contracted mesothelioma in the 1970s while working at several work sites, including Illinois State University, Bridgestone-Firestone and The Eureka Co., according to the lawsuit filed by Bloomington lawyers James Wylder and Andrew Kelly.

Judge Scott Drazewski ruled Aug. 31 that judgments against Pneumo Abex LLC, Honeywell International and Owens-Illinois are vacated.

A judgment against John Crane Inc. for $8.4 million was allowed to stand.

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Quoted from http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/237202-ill.-court-reverses-17.8m-asbestos-verdict

Ill. court reverses $17.8M asbestos verdict

BY BETHANY KRAJELIS

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) – A split panel of the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court has reversed a $17.8 million verdict in a McLean County asbestos conspiracy case.

The majority of the panel relied on the Fourth District’s 2011 ruling in Rodarmel v. Pneumo Abex to come to its conclusion that plaintiff Jayne Menssen did not present sufficient evidence to prove that Honeywell International and Pneumo-Abex conspired with other corporations to suppress the health hazards of asbestos exposure.

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Quoted from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/edcetera/2018887143_a_mesothelioma_case_at_todd_sh.html

A mesothelioma case at Todd Shipyards

Posted by Bruce Ramsey

Here’s a case about a business’s responsibility for an injured worker, as came down from the Washington Supreme Court Thursday, Aug. 9 (Macias v. Saberhagen Holdings).

From 1978 to 2004, Leo Macias was tool keeper at Todd Shipyards in Seattle. As part of his job he would take respirators from shipyard workers who had been working with asbestos and were finishing their shifts. He would chuck the respirators into a basket, sometimes causing “little poofs of dust.” Later he would go through the respirators, taking out the dusty filters and throwing them away. In 2008, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a type of cancer typically caused by asbestos dust.

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Quoted from http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/east/2012/05/29/207526.htm

Pennsylvania High Court Tosses ‘Any Dose’ Asbestos Theory

By RON TODT | May 29, 2012

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that civil lawsuit plaintiffs alleging asbestos-related ailments cannot submit scientific testimony asserting that even the smallest exposure to the material could cause cancer.

The court said in a 6-0 opinion issued Wednesday that plaintiffs must show some relationship between the amount of exposure and development of the disease.

The ruling came in a western Pennsylvania auto mechanic’s 2005 lawsuit alleging that exposure to asbestos from brake lining repair over 44 years had caused his mesothelioma.

A Superior Court panel said a jury should evaluate the “any exposure” testimony, but the high court said the trial judge “was right to be circumspect” about the underlying scientific methodology.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says attorneys for the plaintiff did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-10/pfizer-isn-t-shielded-from-some-asbestos-claims-court-rules.html

Pfizer Isn’t Shielded From Some Asbestos Claims, Court Rules

By Tiffany Kary and Bob Van Voris – Apr 10, 2012 1:48 PM ET

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) isn’t entitled to protection from some asbestos claims related to its non- operating bankrupt Quigley Co. unit, according to a federal appeals court ruling.

Quigley, founded in 1916, made three products for the steel industry from the 1940s to the 1970s that contained asbestos. Pfizer bought Quigley in 1968, and the company stopped most operations in 1992, filing for bankruptcy in 2004. Pfizer has said it never made or sold any Quigley products, and some claimants hadn’t released Pfizer from alleged “derivative liability.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein that found Quigley’s bankruptcy barred certain lawsuits against Pfizer. A May 2011 decision in district court reversed the order, and Pfizer had appealed that ruling.

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