Court Denies Defense Efforts to Address General Causation First

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal court has rejected a defense proposal that the parties in a benzene action address general causation before litigating the rest of the case, according to a recent docket entry. Cole, et al. v. Ashland Chemical Inc., et al., No. 09-6584 (E.D. La.).

In a minute entry entered Feb. 18, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied defense efforts to adopt a Rule 16(b) scheduling order without comment.

In January, the plaintiffs in the case had resisted the defense efforts, claiming that the proposal would deprive them of their right to conduct …