MDL Court Awards Summary Judgment to 9 Asbestos Defendants; Denies Similar Efforts from John Crane

PHILADELPHIA –– Nine asbestos defendants have been awarded summary judgment in a case pending in the national asbestos products liability multidistrict litigation after the Pennsylvania court found that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that the decedent’s mesothelioma was caused by the defendant’s products.

However, in the series of April orders, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declined to award summary judgment to John Crane, opining that the plaintiffs’ evidence established that William Pace was “repeatedly exposed to respirable dust from asbestos-containing John Crane packing.”

The plaintiffs asserted in the lawsuit that Pace was exposed to …