C-8 MDL Court Awards Plaintiffs Summary Judgment on Application of Collateral Estoppel to Certain Issues

CINCINNATI –– The federal court overseeing the multidistrict litigation docket for C-8 personal injury claims has awarded plaintiffs summary judgment on the application of collateral estoppel to certain issues, saying the move was justified given, in part, that DuPont settled the only remaining bellwether cases, therefore leaving no bellwether cases unresolved.

In a 52-page opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio opined in part that when DuPont withdrew its appeal of earlier C-8 personal injury verdicts in the first wave of cases “those previously appealable issues simply retained their finality for purposes of collateral estoppel.”