Asbestos Defendants Contest San Francisco Court’s Request for Prepayment of Jury Fees

SAN FRANCISCO –– Foster Wheeler LLC (NASDAQ:FWLT) and Union Carbide Corp. have filed a petition in a California appellate court asking it to issue an order staying a trial court’s decision requiring the advance deposit of voir dire and jury fees in six consolidated asbestos trial groups.

In an Aug. 8 petition for writ of prohibition filed in the California 1st District Court of Appeal, the defendants argue that requiring prepayment for the jury-related fees is “unconstitutional.”

The dispute arises out of 17 asbestos cases split into six groups for consolidated trials before Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith in the San …