NYC Asbestos Defense Counsel Asks Judge to Apply End of Deferral on Punitive Damages Decision Prospectively Only

NEW YORK –– Defense counsel in New York City’s coordinated asbestos docket have asked the court to stay its order ending a deferral on punitive damages, saying that counsel for the plaintiffs have subsequently requested the remedy in every case on trial against every defendant.

In an April 28 letter that was later characterized by plaintiffs as “replete with misconceptions and wholly inaccurate factual and legal generalizations,” the defendants argue that the recent decision permitting asbestos plaintiffs to petition for punitive damages in the most serious cases has spiraled the docket “into chaos.”

New York County Supreme Court Justice …