asbestos News

A&E Loss Payouts on the Rise; Reserves Will Run Off in 8 Years

A new AM Best segment report details asbestos and environmental (A&E) losses and reserve decline through the end of 2022. AM Best maintains its estimate for net asbestos losses at $100 billion and environmental losses at $46 billion as of …

Montana Clinic Files for Bankruptcy After $6M False Asbestos Claims Ruling

A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination has filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge ordered it to pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages for submitting hundreds of false claims for …

J&J Must Pay $18.8M to California Cancer Patient in Baby Powder Suit

Johnson & Johnson’s must pay $18.8 million to a California man who said he developed cancer from exposure to its baby powder, a jury decided on Tuesday, a setback for the company as it seeks to settle thousands of similar …

Jurors Urged to Impose Heavy Punitive Damages in J&J Talc Trial

Lawyers for a California man who says he developed a rare cancer from exposure to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based baby powder on Monday urged a jury to order the company to pay heavy punitive damages, calling its conduct …

Montana Superfund Town’s Clinic Accused of Submitting False Asbestos Claims

A major U.S. railroad found liable for spreading hazardous asbestos that killed hundreds of people in a Montana town is trying to convince a federal jury that a local clinic submitted hundreds of asbestos claims for people who weren’t sick, …

Davenport, Iowa Hires Outside Firms to Investigate Partial Building Collapse

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Two companies have been tasked with investigating the partial collapse of a six-story apartment building in Iowa that left three dead, many injured and dozens displaced, the city of Davenport announced Wednesday. The city hired …

Lawmakers Warn Leaky, Crumbling UK Parliament at Risk of ‘Catastrophic’ Event

Britain’s Parliament building is an architectural masterpiece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by 1 million people a year. It’s also a crumbling, leaky, asbestos-riddled structure at “real and rising” risk of destruction, lawmakers said Wednesday. In a hair-raising report, …

Bayer Defeats Merck in Lawsuit Over Talc Liabilities

A Delaware judge on Monday dismissed Merck & Co’s lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer AG responsible for more talc-related liabilities stemming from its $14.2 billion purchase of Merck’s consumer care business in 2014. Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook of the Delaware …

J&J Must Face Baby Powder Suit by 24-Year-Old Dying of Cancer

Johnson & Johnson can no longer use bankruptcy to block a trial in California over claims its baby powder caused the deadly cancer of a 24-year-old man, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The ruling is the first of its kind …

W.R. Grace Offers $18.5M to Settle Montana Asbestos Claims

The owner of a former vermiculite mine in northwestern Montana that spread harmful asbestos in and around the town of Libby has offered $18.5 million to settle the last of the state’s claims for environmental damages, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced …