Mississippi Supreme Court Orders Severance In 264-Plaintiff Asbestos Suit

(The following will be slightly off-topic for a Louisiana-law blog. If you're not one of the many Louisiana lawyers involved in Mississippi asbestos litigation, please forgive this little foray across the Pearl or Mississippi River.)

Yesterday the Mississippi Supreme Court handed down an important ruling in a suit by 264 plaintiffs against 137 defendants, alleging various exposures over a 75-year period at around 600 workplaces. The complaint failed to state "which plaintiff was exposed to which product manufactured by which defendant in which workplace at any particular time." The Court, finding this situation intolerable, ordered severance as to each plaintiff, and ordered dismissal without prejudice of the claim of each plaintiff who, within 45 days, fails to provide defendants and trial court with sufficient information for the trial court to determine the appropriate court and venue for transfer, that minimum information being the name of the defendant(s) against whom each plaintiff makes a claim, the time period and location of exposure. Harold's Auto Parts, Inc. v. Mangialardi, No. 2004-IA-01308-SCT, slip op. (Miss. Aug. 26, 2004).

Unfortunately, you can't download a copy of the decision from the Court's web site. But not to worry; Naked Ownership can fix that -- to download, just click
here.

Posted by RPW at August 27, 2004 04:21 PM