Defendants Fail to Remove Claims under Government Contractor Defense

BOSTON -- A Massachusetts federal court has granted a motion to remand, finding that the removing defendants had failed to demonstrate that they were prohibited by their military contracts from warning of potential asbestos dangers. Hilbert, et al. v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., et al., No. 07CV11900-NG (D. Mass.).

In the Jan. 3 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts additionally found that the defendants "never tried to warn about asbestos at all."

"Their argument thus boils down to a bald, unsupported assertion that if they had attempted to warn about the hazards of asbestos, the government would …