Court Rules Kin of Asbestos Victim Are Legal Successors, Not Heirs to Estate

NEW ORLEANS - Only a decedent's beneficiaries, as outlined in Louisiana Civil Code and clarified by the Supreme Court, have the right to be substituted as plaintiffs, a Louisiana appeals court has ruled, dismissing a deceased plaintiff's granddaughter and her father as plaintiffs in a survival and wrongful death case. Dufrene, et al. v. Avondale Industries, Inc., et al., No. 2001-C-1474 (La. Ct. App., 4th Cir.).

The Court of Appeal of Louisiana found on Aug. 22 that the trial court misinterpreted Nathan v. Touro Infirmary, 512 So. 2d 352 (La. 1987), when it found that Tiffany Dufrene, as an heir …