The asbestos litigation industry is buzzing over how the arrest of a major New York politician might – or might not – create a storyline for other high-volume “magnet” communities, says Courts Monitor Publisher Sara Warner in a new Huffington Post column. Her report includes observations from a recent Beverly Hills industry conference on “cutting edge” issues.
BASF Case Focused On Concealing Evidence
December 12, 2014 By
The world’s largest chemical maker and a prominent law firm have lost another court appeal in a class action lawsuit accusing them of concealing and destroying evidence in a batch of asbestos litigation. The federal Third Circuit has declined to “rehear” a September decision that, in effect, re-opened the case. Businessweek reports that the company was “… ordered to face claims it fraudulently hid evidence that its talc products contained asbestos as it sought to scuttle thousands of personal-injury lawsuits.” The company in question was actually acquired by BASF and that business unit mined talc that was used in everything from wallboard to children’s balloons.
Image as reported in The Wall Street Journal 9/4/14 article, “Appeals Court Breathes New Life Into Fraud Case Involving BASF, Cahill Gordon.”
Writing in The American Lawyer (a subscription site) Susan Beck reports that “… BASF, its asbestos litigation has morphed from being a negligible nuisance into an expensive, embarrassing problem. The company stresses that it inherited this situation from Engelhard, and has gone to great efforts to find out what happened. For Cahill, the litigation is also remarkable. Legal ethics expert Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law says it’s not unheard-of for a law firm to be sued for fraud, noting that several were sued in the wake of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. ‘What is rare,’ he says, ‘is for a case like this to target such a prominent law firm.'”
Beck also notes that thousands of cases might be re-opened based on the evidence. The Wall Street Journal also offers background for free.
Asbestos Plaintiff Firms Said To Pocket $2B/Yr.
December 4, 2014 By
The National Courts Monitor, our sister website, is reporting on a new estimate that plaintiff’s firms earn a whopping $2 billion per year on asbestos cases. The estimate, by a defense-side attorney, comes in the context of litigation-community debate and raises questions about creation of “Perjury Pawns.”
Warner Posts Challenge To GOP Senate
November 7, 2014 By
Courts Monitor Publisher Sara Warner is suggesting the new GOP Senate might find success with bankruptcy reform, but only once the Democrats come up with consumer protections for “perjury pawns.” See her ideas at the Huffington Post: Sara Warner
Asbestos Victims Might Reopen Cases In Wake Of BASF Appeal Finding
September 15, 2014 By
Hollywood may have its next true-to-life legal story and asbestos victims with long-settled lawsuits against BASF Catalysts may have new claims in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling. Judges found that the the company “… and its attorneys must face claims that they fraudulently concealed evidence that the company’s talc products contained asbestos, forcing many asbestos victims to dismiss or settle their tort claims,” according to The Courthouse News and other sources.
Judge Julio Fuentes, writing a three-judge panel in the 3rd Circuit, said that “… we conclude that the [lower] District Court erred when it dismissed the fraud and fraudulent concealment claims. The amended class action complaint properly alleges the elements of fraud and fraudulent concealment – namely that BASF and Cahill lied about and destroyed the asbestos evidence to plaintiffs’ detriment. Neither the New Jersey litigation privilege nor pleading requirements stand in the way of these claims.”
The Courthouse News added that, “… however, the court found it premature to make a ruling on any particular legal defense that defendants might make if plaintiffs seek to reopen state cases.”
The report offered, by way of background and plot twist: “The scheme collapsed in a recent lawsuit when a former research chemist for Engelhard testified that he had discovered asbestos in the company’s talc many years ago, and had been instructed to turn over all of his talc-related records. This testimony triggered discovery of potentially concealed documents, of which many were found kept secretly in a Cahill storage facility.”
Read the report here: Courthouse News Service
Asbestos Litigation Summit Tackles Issues of Trust
September 11, 2014 By
CCM Publisher Sara Warner lights up the Huffington Post again with her latest blog.
The insular and well-heeled world of American asbestos litigation is gathering atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill this week for what amounts to an annual current-events snapshot, and this year things may get a bit testy in the industry triangle of plaintiff attorneys, defense firms and insurance companies. Read More.
CityWatch: Dems Tone-Deaf on Veterans’ Asbestos Issue
June 9, 2014 By
CityWatch has published the recent commentary by California Courts Monitor publisher, Sara Warner. The piece, originally published on the Huffington Post’s national political page, argues that Democrats are tone deaf when it comes to the role that veterans play in asbestos bankruptcy trust issues.
Read it at CityWatch here.
Courts Monitor Writer On Vets’ Asbestos Issue
June 5, 2014 By
On the Huffington Post’s national political page today, Sara Warner, publisher of the California Courts Monitor, argues that Democrats are being tone deaf when it comes to the role that veterans play in asbestos bankruptcy trust issues.
You can find her comments here: Dems Tone-Deaf on Veterans’ Asbestos Issue
Courts Monitor Publisher Participates In New Film
September 23, 2013 By
California Courts Monitor Publisher Sara Warner was interviewed last week for a new documentary by Wayne Ewing, the award-winning filmmaker perhaps best known for his series of biopics on Hunter S. Thompson, creator of “gonzo journalism.” Ewing has also produced and directed several political documentaries, including a pair of judicial-focused films in 2004 called “Benched” and “The Last Campaign.”
In text accompanying the interview, the filmmaker explains that he hoped to begin principal photography on a new project during a San Francisco legal conference, but that he was not admitted. However, he adds, Sara Warner was. Find the interview, and more about the documentary and Ewing Films, here.
