Defendants Win One And Lose One In Louisiana State Court
There has been a flurry of activity this week in the Andre case pending in Louisiana State Court. The Defendants began this week by losing their battle with the trial court over the cumulation of the 4 Plaintiffs actions into a single trial when the Louisiana Supreme Court denied the Defendants' application for a supervisory writ complaining of the cumulation order. Then, on Wednesday morning, Judge Medley, sua sponte, struck the Defendants' request for a jury, ruling that their payment of a jury fee was untimely. The Defendants filed for an emergency stay and an application for supervisory writ from the trial court's order. The Louisiana Court of Appeals granted a stay until noon on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon, the Court of Appeals granted the Defendant's application for a supervisory writ and held the Defendants are entitled to a jury trial. Jury selection is now tentatively scheduled to begin Monday morning.
Judge O'Malley Picks Next Bellweather Case For MDL Trial
On Monday, January 8, Judge Kathleen O'Malley, Presiding Judge of the Welding Products Litigation MDL, picked the Eddie Byers case as the next case for trial in the MDL after the Jowers case. The Byers trial is scheduled to begin July 21, 2008. Judge O'Malley had 3 cases, all filed by The Kaiser Law Firm (Houston, Texas), to chose from. Eddie Byers originally filed his suit in 2004 against numerous defendants alleging he suffers from manganese induced Parkinsonism caused by occupational exposure to manganese in welding fumes. In the fall of 2006, Byers amended his action to allege claims only against Lincoln Electric, Hobart, ESAB, BOC, TDY, and Union Carbide. In addition to The Kaiser Law, Byers is represented by Climaco, Lefkowitz, Peca, Wilcox & Garofoli (Cleveland, Ohio) and Williams Kherker Hart Boundas (Houston, Texas).
California Case Dismissed; Parties Argue Over Trial Selection Process
In a surprise move, the Plaintiffs in the Val King case dismissed all of their claims about 2 weeks prior to the scheduled beginning of trial. King, a case involving claims against welding rod manufacturers and premises owners, was scheduled to be the first case to go to trial in the consolidated state court action. Shortly after the dismissal, the Court held a case management conference at which the parties presented a list of the next 24 cases they anticipate bringing to trial and differing views on how the Court should schedule the trials of those cases. The Plaintiffs proposed multi-plaintiff trials and the Defendants requested the Court implement a 60 day sliding track schedule. The next California state court case will be a single Plaintiff case: Soto, set April 7, 2008. The Court indicated it may consider changing courses after that trial.
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