In re New York Asbestos Litigation

149 F.R.D. 490, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7794, 1993 WL 215499
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided June 10, 1993·No. Nos. 92 Civ. 6377 (RWS), 92 Civ. 7283 (RWS), 92 Civ. 2402 (RWS), 92 Civ. 3900 (RWS), 92 Civ. 0763 (RWS) and 88 Civ. 6403 (RWS)·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

Defendant corporations in six consolidated tort actions based on asbestos exposure have moved for separate trials pursuant to Rule 42(b), F.R.Civ.P. before this Court for an order reconsidering the prior consolidation of these cases pursuant to Rule 42(a), F.R.Civ. P., in light of the opinion by the Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit in Malcolm v. National Gypsum Co., 995 F.2d 346 (2d Cir. 1993) (“Malcolm”) (also referred to as Kranz v. National Gypsum Co.). Defendant Keene Corporation (“Keene”) has moved for a stay of all asbestos-related litigation pending against Keene in this Court pending the determination of a limited fund settlement class in a separate action before the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein. One third-party defendant, Veteran Pipe Covering Co. Inc. (“Veteran”) has moved pursuant also to Rule 14(a), F.R.Civ.P. as well for an order granting Veteran a separate trial.

For the reasons given below, all motions are denied.

Parties

The six cases remaining before this court are: Consorti 92 Civ. 6377; Luchnick, 92 Civ. 7283; Pulizzi 92 Civ. 2402; Strafford, 92 Civ. 3900; Tabolt, 92 Civ. 0763; and Smo-lowitz, 88 Civ. 6403. Of the eighty-eight original defendants, only twelve remain. Five of the direct defendants have not submitted papers in support of this motion.

Plaintiff John Consorti (“Consorti”) alleges that he suffers from mesothelioma due to his exposure to certain of the defendants’ products. Consorti, a smoker and 40% owner of Veteran, a family insulator business, claims exposure to approximately twenty-five asbestos-containing products, including pipe-covering, felt, roofing paper, mastics, cloth, sewing twine, adhesive, and asbestos-containing cement. Consorti originally sued the largest number of defendants, and the largest number of defendants are still left in his case. The defendants who have submitted papers are the Anchor Packing Company (“Anchor”), alleged to have produced asbestos-containing gaskets and packing; the Flint-kote Company (“Flintkote”), alleged to have produced asbestos-containing tile and black Orangeburg pipe; Fibreboard Corporation (“Fibreboard”), the Keene Corporation (“Keene”), and Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company (“OCF”), all alleged to have produced asbestos-containing insulation. OCF has interpleaded two additional third-party defendants, one of which is Veteran, Consortia immediate employer.

Plaintiff Richard Smolowitz (“Smolowitz”), a smoker, alleges injury from asbestosis, resulting from exposure to taping materials, pipe insulation, and asbestos-containing cement in the course of his work as a taper from 1954 to 1980. Smolowitz has alleged that he worked at Seaview Village in 1966, at the Chatham Towers in lower Manhattan, at the Mitchell Lama projects in Rockaway in the late 60’s and 70’s, at the Roosevelt Raceway and the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn from 1970-72, and at the Woolworth [492]*492Building, 55 Water Street, Sloan Kettering Hospital, the New York Coliseum, Lincoln Center, the Exxon Building, 666 Fifth Avenue, 90 Park, the Empire State Building and at the Port Authority’s World Trade Center from 1971 to 1973. He also alleges that he was exposed to these asbestos-laden materials during his work at private residences from 1973 to 1979 and at Brooklyn College from 1979-1980. Although asbestosis is not fatal, Smolowitz has alleged an increased fear of cancer requiring psychological care due to his exposure to the Defendant’s products. The defendants who have submitted papers in Smolowitz are OCF and Flintkote.

The remaining four plaintiffs are deceased. The estate of plaintiff Peter Pulizzi (“Puliz-zi”), a smoker alleged to have died from mesothelioma, claims he was exposed due to his employment as a shipfitter to pipecover-ing at the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 1942 to 1945. The defendants who have submitted papers in Pulizzi are Fibreboard, Anchor, Keene, and Garlock, Inc. (“Garlock”).

The estate of plaintiff Alfred Luchnick (“Luchnick”), a nonsmoker alleged to have died from mesothelioma, claims he was exposed during his work as a welder at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from 1940 to 1945. The defendants who have submitted papers in Luchnick are Fibreboard, Garlock, and Keene.

The estate of Walter Strafford (“Straf-ford”), a smoker alleged to have died from mesothelioma or lung cancer,1 claims he was exposed to asbestos in 1962 from packing materials and gaskets, during work dismantling and refurbishing valves in a sheetmetal shop. The defendants who have submitted papers in Strafford are John Crane Inc. (“Crane”) alleged to have produced asbestos-containing gaskets and packing material, and Anchor.

The estate of Vincent Tabolt (“Tabolt”), a pipesmoker alleged to have died of mesothe-lioma, claims he was exposed between 1965 and 1972 due to loading and unloading bags of asbestos-containing cement and apparently other substances at the Lowville Farmer’s Cooperative Incorporated, New York. The sole Defendant who has submitted papers in Tabolt is Flintkote.

Prior Proceedings

Asbestos-related tort actions brought in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York pursuant to New York’s revival statute2 were subdivided by the worksite at which the plaintiffs were exposed to asbestos. The three categories were cases involving exposure at the government-owned shipbuilding facility the Brooklyn Navy Yard, cases involving exposure during the construction or repair of powerhouses, and cases in which the plaintiffs’ principle exposure was either at a shipyard other than the Brooklyn Navy Yard or a construction site not included in the Powerhouse consolidation. By Order dated May 1, 1991, the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, Chief Judge, directed plaintiffs’ counsel to identify all personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York which were not part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the Powerhouse consolidations for the purpose of transferring these cases for trial before this Court.

In 1977, 1980, 1985, 1986, and 1987 the Multi-District Litigation Panel (the “MDL Panel”) considered the consolidation of asbestos litigation, and it declined to transfer the mass of pending asbestos litigation.3 On November 21, 1990, eight federal district [493]*493judges responsible for the asbestos action in their respective districts urged further consideration. A Report of the Judicial Conference Ad Hoc Committee on Asbestos Litigation (1991) followed, advocating that asbestos litigation be viewed as a national problem requiring a comprehensive solution. In July 1991, the Panel concluded that “centralization in a single district of all pending federal personal injury and wrongful death asbestos actions is necessary,” and ordered the pretrial consolidation of 26,639 cases in July 1991. Recognizing that “[t]he heyday of individual adjudication of asbestos mass tort lawsuits has long passed,” (quoting In re Eastern & Southern Districts Asbestos Litigation (In re Johns-Manville Corp., 129 B.R. 710 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1991) (Weinstein, J.)), the Panel consolidated the cases, In re Asbestos Products Liability Litig. (No. VI), 771 F.Supp. 415, 419 (J.P.M.L.1991).

The Panel thereafter transferred pending asbestos actions to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for consolidation before the Honorable Charles P.

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In re New York Asbestos Litigation, 149 F.R.D. 490, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7794, 1993 WL 215499 (S.D.N.Y. 1993).

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