Articles

Fighting at a hockey game? No way!

June 22, 2015 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

At a youth hockey game in Rome, New York, families of the 13-year-old players rooted for their teams with increasing intensity. Some spectators turned belligerent, and after the game ended, one player’s mother confronted another player’s mother. The provocation blew up into a full-scale melee involving multiple family members and specta ...

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Texas Supreme Court requires proof of causation in asbestos cases

July 11, 2014 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Timothy Bostic died from mesothelioma, which he alleged was caused by his exposure to asbestos from a variety of sources, including his use of asbestos-containing joint compound manufactured by Georgia-Pacific Corporation when he was a child and teenager helping his father on weekend drywall projects.  He originally sued dozens of defendants and, ...

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California employers take another hit

December 18, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

The California Supreme Court has declined to review a Court of Appeal decision, Moradi v. Marsh, that vastly expands potential employer liability.  In a case that received a lot of press, an insurance broker finished her work for the day, and headed off for some yogurt and a yoga class before going home.  When she … ...

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“Any exposure” causation theory firmly rebuffed by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

October 02, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Today, we received notice that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a favorable per curiam opinion in Howard v. A.W. Chesterton Co. on September 26.  The issue was whether a mesothelioma patient must prove that he was exposed to the defendant companies’ asbestos products with sufficient frequency, proximity, and regularity to justify imposi ...

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Even asbestos plaintiffs must prove causation

June 14, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Plaintiffs suffering from asbestos-related diseases typically sue dozens of defendants: the manufacturers and distributors of every asbestos-containing product to which they were ever exposed, their employers, and more.  As a matter of course, the vast majority of these defendants either settle the plaintiffs’ claims, or, if they can prove t ...

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Never mind.

February 11, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in Howard v. AW Chesterton, an asbestos case, on March 6. But instead of contemplating whether a mesothelioma plaintiff (John Ravert) must prove that he was exposed to the defendant companies’ asbestos products with sufficient frequency, proximity, and regularity to justify imp ...