Marc Gaffrey Prevails in New Jersey Supreme Court Asbestos Case
On September 11th, the New Jersey Supreme Court returned a favorable decision in Rowe Asbestos Matters in which Marc Gaffrey, Supervising Partner of the firm’s Environmental and Toxic Tort Litigation Department, argued as amicus curiae on behalf of The New Jersey Defense Association. This ruling will favorably impact the defense in all asbestos trials in New Jersey.
Based upon the decision, if the corporate representative of a settled defendant is out of state, deceased or otherwise unavailable, the remaining defendants may read in prior answers to interrogatories and/or depositions in any other case, in any jurisdiction, with any plaintiffs’ attorney, in order to prove their crossclaims for purposes of allocation against that settled defendant. The jury may consider that discovery as an offset to the trial defendants’ potential liability.