National Asbestos Conference: Litigation and Trial of MDL Asbestos Claims in Federal Court

Conference Agenda

Day 1, Thursday, February 24, 2011

7:30 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
Continental Breakfast & Registration

8:15 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Welcome By Co-Chairs

Mark D. Sayre, The Valorem Group, Chicago
Joseph W. Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York


8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
"Ok, So Whose Big Idea Was It To Remove this Case to be Tried in Federal Court?" - Federal Rules of Evidence in Trial
  • Relevancy vs. Prejudice in Federal Trials
  • Attorney-Client Privilege, Work Product and Waiver under the Rules of Evidence
  • Discoverability of Expert Reliance Materials and Draft Reports
  • The Limits of Lay and Expert Opinion
  • Unique Federal Twists on Hearsay Rule and Exceptions
    F. Ford Loker, Miles Stockbridge, LLP, Baltimore
    Sharon J. Zinns, Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP, New York

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Getting Past the Gatekeeper: Clearing Daubert Hurdles with Your Asbestos Experts
  • Finding and Vetting Reliable and Relevant Experts
  • Preparing and Deposing Experts in Anticipation of Daubert Challenges
  • Defeating Daubert Challenges and Getting Your Expert's Opinions Into Evidence
    Lawrence G. Cetrulo, Cetrulo & Capone, LLP, Boston
    Justin Shrader, Shrader & Associates, Houston
    Alani Golanski, Weitz & Luxenberg, New York

10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Medicare Issues
  • Medicare Issues Between the Defendants, Their Insurers and the Plaintiffs' Bar
    Joseph W. Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York
    Mark D. Sayre, Valorem Law Group, Chicago

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
The Ethics of Threatening Removal of Cases to Federal Court as a Settlement Tool
  • Cases Are Now Resolved in the MDL Much More Promptly
  • Strategic Removals
  • Demands for Releases
    Charles Siegel, Waters & Kraus, Dallas
    Robert O. Meriwether, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P., Columbia, SC

2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Refreshment Break

2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The Changing Views of Removal Among Defendants
  • Why, Historically, Defendants Wanted to be in Federal Court
  • Why Defendants Now Want to be in Federal Court
  • Evolving Theories of Law Affecting Removal and the Use of Bases of Removal
  • Effects of Removal on Settlement Dynamics
    Bernard L. Levinthal, Goldfein and Joseph, P.C., Philadelphia
    Joseph Belluck, Belluck & Fox, New York

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Standards of Proof In Federal District Court
  • Federal Court Evidence Compared to General State Court Evidence
  • How Standards of Proof Differ from State to Federal Court
    Dan O'Connell, O'Connell Tiven Miller & Burns, Chicago
    Nathan D. Finch, Motley Rice, Washington, D.C.
    Terry Budd, K&L Gates, Pittsburgh

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Networking Cocktail Reception

Day 2, Friday, February 25, 2011

7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Discovery Issues: Bankruptcy Trusts, Transparency Issues and MDL 875
  • Need for and Goals of Transparency of Claims in the Bankruptcy Trusts
  • Types of Claim Information Available from Bankruptcy Trust Data
  • Discovery of the Bankruptcy Claims (Efforts, Successes and Barriers)
  • Bankruptcy Trusts' Efforts to Limit Transparency
  • Extrapolation of Discredited and Suspect Non-Malignant Claims Used to Predict Future Claims
    David M. Setter, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Denver
    Daniel J. Mulholland, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Jackson, MS
    William Kohlburn, The Simmons Firm, East Alton, IL

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Current Status of the Asbestos MDL
  • Who is Left?
  • What is Happening?
  • How Much Longer Will This Go On?
    Marcy B. Croft, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Jackson, MS
    Kyle E. Bjornlund, Cetrulo & Capone, LLP, Boston
    Keven H. Friedman, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., Woodbridge, NJ
    Tiffany F. Turner, Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, P.C., Philadelphia
    V. Brian Bevon, Motley Rice, Mt. Pleasant, SC

10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The “Dos and Don’ts” of Trial Attorney Conduct & Decorum in Federal District Court

Scott L. Frost, Waters & Kraus, LLP, Dallas
Stephen M. Nichols, Walsworth, Franklin, Bevins & McCall, Orange, CA