Court Awards Partial Summary Judgment, Said Asbestos Defendant Didn’t Assume Obligations of Insolvent Insurer

NEW ORLEANS –– A Louisiana court has awarded partial summary judgment to an asbestos defendant, finding that the company did not assume its insurers’ obligations when executing buy-back agreements in the wake of the insurance companies’ insolvency.

In the June 17 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana opined that the buy-back agreement was instead contracted to void the policies “as if they had never been issued.”

The underlying case involves the claims of Sally Vedros, who sued numerous defendants after being diagnosed with mesothelioma that she said was caused by exposure to asbestos at …