N.C. Magistrate Judge Recommends Deferral of Ruling on Jurisdiction Challenges in Asbestos-Containing Talc Case

GREENSBORO, N.C. –– A North Carolina magistrate judge has recommended that the court defer adjudication of two asbestos defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, saying that the defendants had “bypassed multiple opportunities for preliminary resolution of their jurisdictional assertions.”

In the June 7 report and recommendation, Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina wrote that the plaintiff did not need to seek leave to engage in jurisdictional discovery since discovery is currently ongoing.

Plaintiff Merton Eric Branson filed the lawsuit, naming Brenntag North American, Whittaker, Clark …