Court Grants Crown Cork & Seal Global Motion for Dismissal

PHILADELPHIA - Crown Cork & Seal has been dismissed from more than 375 asbestos lawsuits in Pennsylvania on grounds that it paid in excess of what it is required to pay under a recently adopted statute limiting the asbestos liability of successor corporations. Crown Cork & Seal, In re: Asbestos Litigation, October Term 1986, No. 0001 (Pa. Comm. Pls., Philadelphia Cty.).

Judge Allan L. Terseshko granted Crown Cork's global motion for summary judgment June 11, finding that the statute, which caps asbestos liabilities of Pennsylvania corporations - when they're assumed through a merger - at the value of the predecessor …