Amici Group Backs Defendants’ Appeal of CMO in New York Asbestos Litigation; Says Court Should Restore Deferral on Punitive Damages

NEW YORK –– An amicus group has filed a brief in the appeal of a Case Management Order allowing plaintiffs to seek punitive damages in New York’s coordinated asbestos docket, maintaining that the court should “restore the longstanding NYCAL practice of deferring punitive damages claims.”

In the Oct. 10 brief the group also said that the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department should modify the Case Management Order to “close the asbestos bankruptcy trust disclosure ‘loophole’ that plaintiff lawyers have subjectively read into the CMO, and, instead, require plaintiffs to file all eligible …