Second Kentucky Judge Rejects Respiratory Manufacturers' Fraudulent Joinder Claim

LONDON, Ky. - For the second time in two months, a federal judge in Kentucky has ruled that distributors of allegedly defective respirator devices were not fraudulently joined to a silica suit because fact issues remain over whether the defendants had any knowledge that the products they sold contained defects. Baker, et al. v. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, et al., No. 03-470 (E.D. Ky.).

In a decision issued May 26, Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky remanded seven cases previously removed by respirator manufacturers on the ground that the plaintiffs …