Joint Eastern and Southern Dist. Asbestos Litigation, In re

Citation78 F.3d 764
Decision Date21 February 1996
Docket NumberNos. 692-696,D,JOHNS-MANVILLE,s. 692-696
PartiesIn re JOINT EASTERN AND SOUTHERN DISTRICT ASBESTOS LITIGATION (Two Cases). In reCORPORATION, Debtor (Two Cases). Bernadine K. FINDLEY, as Executrix of the Estate of Hilliard Findley, Uma Lail Caldwell, as Executrix of the Estate of Odell Caldwell, Joseph C. Jones, James William Barnette, Jr., on behalf of themselves, and all others similarly situated as beneficiaries of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, Edward Lindley, Plaintiff Class, Future Claimants, Leslie Gordon Fagen, as legal representative of future claimants, on behalf of future claimants of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust and the Subclass of Present Claimants, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Maryland Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellees, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellant, Porter-Hayden Co., a member of the Distributor Subclass, Intervenor-Appellant, Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation and Subclass 3, consisting of all beneficiaries of the Manville Trust who, as former producers, manufacturers, distributors, and/or installers of asbestos and asbestos-containing products, have or may have in the future contribution and/or indemnification claims against the Manville Trust (except for those distributors whose claims for contribution and/or indemnification are based on their distribution of asbestos-containing products of Manville Corp. (the Manville distributors subclass), shall be referred to as "the co-defendant Manufacturers subclass", and Manville Distributor Subclass Representatives E.J. Bartells Co. and J.T. Thorpe Co., on Behalf of Themselves and the Manville Distributor Subclass, Claimants-Appellants, MacArthur Subclass, Claimant-Appellee, v. Robert FALISE, Louis Klein, Jr., Christian E. Markey, Jr., and Frank Macchiarola, not individually but solely in their capacities as Trustees of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, Defendants-Appellees, Donald M. Blinken, Daniel Fogel, Francis H. Hare, Jr., John C. Sawhill, not individu
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Appeals from a judgment entered in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, Jack B. Weinstein, District Judge, and Burton R. Lifland, Bankruptcy Judge, approving class action settlement. See 878 F.Supp. 473 (E.D.N.Y. and S.D.N.Y.1995).

Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part.

Elihu Inselbuch, New York City (James Sottile, IV, Christian R. Pastore, Caplin & Drysdale, New York City, Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole, Charleston, South Carolina, Wartnick, Chaber, Harowitz Smith & Tigerman, San Francisco, California, Wilentz Goldman & Spitzer, Woodbridge, New Jersey, Baron & Budd, Dallas, Texas, Rose, Klein & Marias, Los Angeles, California, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Timothy J. Hogan, Baltimore, Maryland (Peter G. Angelos, Baltimore, Maryland, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellees Maryland Plaintiffs in the consolidated appeals, and for Claimants-Appellants Amato et al., in No. 95-5016.

Bert W. Rein, Washington, D.C. (Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Washington, D.C., Michael P. Murphy, Hodgson, Russ, Andrews, Woods & Goodyear, Buffalo, New York, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellant United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company.

Francis J. Lawall, New York City (John B. Glendon, Charles H. Carpenter, Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz, New York City on the brief, for Claimants-Appellants Manville Distributors in the consolidated appeals, and for Claimants-Appellees Manville Distributors in No. 95-5016; Robert S. Hillman, Louis G. Close, Jr., Gardner M. Duvall, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, Baltimore, Maryland, on the brief for Intervenor-Appellant Porter Hayden Co.).

Anne E. Cohen, New York City (Roger E. Podesta, Sandra L. Cobden, Debevoise & Plimpton, New York City, on the brief), for Claimants-Appellants Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation and the Subclass of Codefendant Manufacturers in the consolidated appeals, and for Claimants-Appellees Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation and the Subclass of Codefendant Manufacturers in No. 95-5016.

John H. Faricy, Jr., Minneapolis, Minnesota (James J. Higgins, Boyar, Higgins & Suozzo, Morristown, New Jersey, on the brief), for Claimant-Appellee MacArthur Subclass.

James L. Stengel, New York City (Richard J. DeMarco, Jr., Laurie Strauch Dix, Steven J. Fink, Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine, New York, New York, David T. Austern, Fairfax, Virginia, on the brief), for Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust.

Before: KEARSE, WINTER, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges.

KEARSE, Circuit Judge:

This opinion deals with several asbestos-litigation appeals from a final judgment of the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, Jack B. Weinstein, District Judge of the Eastern District and sitting by designation in the Southern District, and Burton R. Lifland, Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District (collectively the "Trial Courts" or "Courts"), approving the settlement of a non-opt-out class action brought by beneficiaries of the Johns-Manville Personal Injury Trust (the "Trust"), which include persons claiming asbestos-related injuries from products manufactured by the Johns-Manville Corporation ("the Corporation" or "Manville"), as well as other manufacturers and distributors of asbestos with claims for contribution and indemnification against Manville. The consolidated appeals, Nos. 95-5004(L), -5006, -5010, and -5014, present two principal challenges. First, claimant-appellant Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation, suing individually and as a representative of the subclass of Codefendant Manufacturers (collectively "Codefendant Manufacturers"), along with the claimant-appellant subclass of Manville Distributors (collectively "Manville Distributors") and intervenor-appellant Porter-Hayden Company, contend that the Trial Courts erred in failing to decide what set-off rules are to be applied to claims brought by Trust beneficiaries in Maryland. Second, plaintiff-intervenor-appellant United States Fidelity and...

To continue reading

Request your trial
82 cases
  • Jackson v. TRUCK DRIVERS'UNION LOCAL 42, Civil Action No. 92-10242-PBS.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts
    • 7 Agosto 1996
    ...Districts Asbestos Litig., 878 F.Supp. 473 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1995) (Weinstein, J.), aff'd in part and vacated in part on other grounds, 78 F.3d 764 (2d Cir.1996), the trustees of the Manville trust, which was established to pay out present and future claims of those injured by exposure to asbes......
  • In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("Mtbe")
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • 7 Abril 2006
    ...utter the last word."). 8. See Travelers Ins. Co. v. Carpenter, 411 F.3d 323, 329 (2d Cir.2005). See also In re Joint E. & S. Dist. Asbestos Litig., 78 F.3d 764, 776 (2d Cir. 1996); Continental Casualty Co. v. Pullman, Comley, Bradley & Reeves, 929 F.2d 103, 105 (2d Cir. 1991); Plummer v. L......
  • Reynolds v. Giuliani
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • 21 Julio 2000
    ...(quoting 7 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 1768, at 639 (1972)); see also In re Joint Eastern and Southern Dist. Asbestos Litig., 78 F.3d 764, 778 (2d Cir. 1996) (rejecting plaintiffs' inadequacy of representation claim where there was no indication that their claims were an......
  • In re Dow Corning Corp., Bankruptcy No. 95-20512.
    • United States
    • United States Bankruptcy Courts. Tenth Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Eastern District of Michigan
    • 29 Julio 1997
    ...the very real concern that the estimates may prove to be inaccurate would be eliminated. See, e.g., In re Joint Eastern and Southern Dist. Asbestos Litig., 78 F.3d 764, 769 (2d Cir.1996). Second, none of the time delay or expense associated with litigation over the question of how to best e......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
3 books & journal articles
  • The Rule of the Deal: Bankruptcy Bargains and Other Misnomers.
    • United States
    • American Bankruptcy Law Journal Vol. 97 No. 1, March 2023
    • 22 Marzo 2023
    ...878 F. Supp. 473, 571 (E.D.N.Y. & S.D.N.Y. 1995) (citing 11 U.S.C. [section] 524(g)(4)(B)(i)-(ii) (1994)), affdin part, revd in part, 78 F.3d 764 (2d Cir. 1996) ("[a]n injunction issued pursuant to the statute will only be valid and enforceable as to future claimants if a legal represen......
  • Why We Should Keep Teaching Dodge v. Ford Motor Co.
    • United States
    • The Journal of Corporation Law Vol. 48 No. 1, September 2022
    • 22 Septiembre 2022
    ...H. Cone Mem'l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 11 (1983)). (308.) See, e.g., In re Joint E. & S. Dist. Asbestos Litig., 78 F.3d 764, 775 (2d Cir. 1996) (discussing Burford abstention, under "which a federal district court may properly decline to decide difficult questions of ......
  • Making Sense of the Business Roundtable's Reversal on Corporate Purpose.
    • United States
    • 22 Marzo 2021
    ...orders raise "'an important issue separate from the merits'" of the case). (122.) See, e.g., In re Jt. E. and S. Dist. Asbestos Litig., 78 F.3d 764, 775 (2d Cir. 1996) (discussing Burford abstention, under "which a federal district court may properly decline to decide difficult questions of......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT