La. Judge: Avondale Shipyard Worker’s Asbestos Suit Lacks Ties to Insurer, Supplier

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana has retained jurisdiction over an asbestos injury case filed on behalf of a former Avondale shipyard employee, determining that a supplier and insurance company were fraudulently joined to the lawsuit.

Judge Jane Triche Milazzo of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled Sept. 18 that the plaintiffs failed to refute the Virginia-incorporated shipyard’s claims that its co-defendants neither supplied asbestos-containing products to Avondale or insured any of the shipyard’s officers during the time the plaintiff’s alleged exposure occurred.

Agnes Landry, the surviving spouse of Norman Landry, filed the …