Major Asbestos Trial Begins This Week

Date: September 19, 2002

Source: News Room

A massive asbestos trial against some of the world's largest companies, including ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Honeywell International (NYSE: HON), will begin in West Virginia this week, even as the case is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court comprises the cases of 8,000 people who say they were exposed to the deadly agent. But about half of the 259 defendants have appealed to the high court, saying plaintiffs' cases are so dissimilar that consolidating them infringes on their constitutional rights. Defendants range from manufacturers to groups of employers and building owners, and cases are so numerous the trial was to be split into separate but simultaneous proceedings, one for companies sued over product liability claims and the other for those sued for on-premises exposure to asbestos.

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