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Workers’ Compensation Academy: New Jersey, an Update on COVID-19 and its Impact on Workers’ Compensation
Court: Appellate Court of Maryland - A Maryland appellate court has affirmed a lower court’s decision that granted summary judgment to the defense in a toxic substance exposure case....more
Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Four - Blanca Hernandez, et al., v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, et al. This litigation arises from claims of asbestos exposure. The plaintiffs allege the...more
Jurisdiction: Illinois Circuit Court – Cook County - This lawsuit involved a survival and wrongful death action brought under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) in Illinois. Plaintiff, Annette Sanders, represented...more
The Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment for Exxon Mobil corporation in Stanley Cole v. Exxon Mobil Corp. (No. 14-22-00756-CV), a premises liability case involving alleged exposure to olivine dust. The...more
We previously reported that the Illinois Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Martin v. Goodrich Corp., upholding the constitutionality of a 2019 amendment to the Illinois Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (the...more
In a toxic tort case, plaintiffs must establish general causation. If a substance is incapable of causing the type of injury plaintiff claims, then it certainly didn’t cause theirs. Under Texas law, toxic tort plaintiffs must...more
Court: Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department - In September 2023, the trial court denied talc defendant Colgate-Palmolive Co.’s motion for summary judgment to dismiss the complaint against it. On...more
Court: Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District, Houston - Carolyn and Frank Burford were married from November 1962 until Carolyn’s death in 2015. While married, Frank Buford worked for Alcoa at its aluminum smelter...more
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - Plaintiff Harry Marsh worked as a merchant mariner from 1944 to 1992. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2018 and subsequently sued the owner of every vessel he...more
Court: Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department - In this asbestos action, defendant Jenkins Bros. sought a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial, or remittitur of a verdict awarding...more
Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department - In July 2023, the trial court denied a door manufacturer’s motion to dismiss. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department found...more
Court: Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Civil Division - In this asbestos action, a California state court set aside a $107 million verdict against defendants Union Carbide Corp., Elementis Chemicals...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently approved injunctive relief as part of a strategy for settling mass tort claims through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Bestwall LLC, an entity created by...more
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - In 2016, plaintiff Richard Nybeck sued various product manufacturers in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, alleging he developed lung cancer after...more
As we reported here, Cal/OSHA’s revised COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) took effect on January 14, 2022. The controversial emergency regulations, which have caused employers countless headaches, survived their...more
Last year, Harris Beach wrote about a federal magistrate judge’s report and recommendation to deny Defendants’ motions for summary judgment in a toxic tort suit arising from occupational exposure to ortho-toluidine...more
In Nichols v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 924 F.3d 80 (5th Cir. 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that when an LTD policy funding an ERISA plan defines "regular occupation" as the way the...more
On September 20, 2018 the Supreme Court declined a petition for discretionary review of the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in the matter of Briggs v. Debbie’s Staffing, Inc., 812 S.E.2d 706, 707 (N.C. Ct. App.),...more
Nearly 2.3 million people in the United States work in jobs that expose them to silica. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) claims that more than 100,000 of those workers are engaged in “high risk jobs such...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a win for labor, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals orders the remand of the Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction and General Industry (Silica Rule) for OSHA to explain its decision to omit medical...more
A recent ruling by the federal appeals court that covers Oklahoma reminds employers that they must treat pregnant employees with health conditions or work limitations the same as any other employee with health conditions or...more