In Snyder v. California Insurance Guarantee Association, the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, considered when the three-year statute of limitations for a cause of action against the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) accrues.  The statute does not begin to run until a “covered claim” matures and is denied.  CIGA’s denial in an answer to a complaint for declaratory relief did not satisfy this requirement.

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke has announced that, if she translates last week’s primary victory into a general election victory this fall, she will repeal Act 154, Wisconsin’s new asbestos bankruptcy trust transparency law. Burke supports the proposed Assembly bill to repeal Act 154, which was signed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in March 2014.  More than 100,000 Wisconsin veterans and various lobbyists opposed the enactment of Act 154, and apparently the fight is not yet over.

CALIFORNIA COURT REFUSES TO ALLOW POST-VERDICT SETOFFS OF POTENTIAL BANKRUPTCY TRUST CLAIMS

Evidence of claims by plaintiffs to asbestos bankruptcy trusts is critical to the defense of any asbestos case. In California, for example, Volkswagen of America Inc. v. Superior Court (Rusk) (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1481, highlighted the importance of the discovery of such claims for purposes of setoffs and establishing a defendant’s proportional share of damages.

Generally, as a result of judicial and legislative reforms, plaintiffs’ lawyers have moved away from mass screenings and filing of claims on behalf of unimpaired or non-malignancy plaintiffs in asbestos litigation. Rather, many of these unimpaired cases are being moved through the less rigorously reviewed channels of asbestos bankruptcy trusts that provide relatively little oversight and have more than $36.8 billion in assets available.

ASBESTOS TRUSTS FIND “PATTERN” OF SUBMITTING UNRELIABLE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT TRUST CLAIMS

As a result of Gordon & Rees’ amicus efforts (through California defense counsel organizations), along with those of other amici, the Court of Appeal issued an order modifying its opinion in Hernandezcueva v. E.F.

On January 12, 2016, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, issued a non-precedential opinion in Ward Sand & Materials Co. v. Transamerica Ins. Co., et al. The long-anticipated ruling found that, in long-tail claims, insureds are responsible for the share of liability allocated to insurers that became insolvent prior to December 22, 2004.

I want to share with you a recent development in California asbestos litigation concerning bankruptcy trust disclosures. More specifically, Judge Elias, the Los Angeles Asbestos Supervising Judge, recently issued an order relating to disclosures of bankruptcy trust information.