Parent Co. Must Defend Successor-In-Interest for Alleged Asbestos Liability, Court Says

CHICAGO - A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that a company named in nearly 60 asbestos lawsuits by virtue of its relationship as a successor to two companies formerly owned by a corporation that made asbestos containing products is entitled to defense of those claims by the companies' former parent. Applied Industrial Materials Corporation v. Mallinckrodt, Inc., No. 99-2518 (N.D. Ill.).

Judge Ronald A. Guzman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said March 28 that under the stock purchase agreement that resulted from the transaction, the parent company has a duty to defend the …