Pa. Court Remands Asbestos-Related Insurance Case, Finds No Evidence that Non-Diverse Defendant Fraudulent Joined

ERIE, Pa. –– A Pennsylvania federal court has remanded an asbestos-related insurance action, saying that the asbestos defendants who brought the suit had set forth enough evidence to establish that joinder of the non-diverse defendant was not fraudulent.

In the Nov. 19 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania stopped short of assessing the merits of the plaintiffs’ allegations and the insurance companies’ defenses, saying that the state court should make an assessment on the sufficiency of the complaint.

“The Court only notes that Plaintiffs have set forth factual allegations, and accompanying material, establishing under the …