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Two Asbestos Cases Properly Consolidated

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Mazzarelli, over a two-justice dissent, determined Supreme Court properly consolidated two cases alleging injury related to asbestos exposure.  One case involved a worker injured by asbestos dust from drywall sanding at a construction site.  The other involved a navy boiler technician who maintained steam valves containing asbestos.  The court determined that the cases had more commonality than differences:

Consolidation of cases is authorized by CPLR 602(a), which provides:

“When actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before a court, the court, upon motion, may order a joint trial of any or all the matters in issue, may order the actions consolidated, and may make such other orders concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid unnecessary costs or delay.”

As the statutory language suggests, joining cases together is designed to “reduce the cost of litigation, make more economical use of the trial court’s time, and speed the disposition of cases” … . Further, “[g]reat deference is to be accorded to the motion court’s discretion” in joining cases together … .

Malcolm v National Gypsum Co. (995 F2d 346 [2d Cir 1993]) is the seminal case concerning consolidation in asbestos cases. There, the Second Circuit endorsed “[a standard set of] criteria . . . as a guideline in determining whether to consolidate asbestos exposure cases[, including]: (1) common worksite; (2) similar occupation; (3) similar time of exposure; (4) type of disease; (5) whether plaintiffs were living or deceased; (6) status of discovery in each case; (7) whether all plaintiffs were represented by the same counsel; and (8) type of cancer alleged” … .

The court entertaining a consolidation motion is further required to take into consideration the number of separate cases (id. at 352). This Court has applied the Malcolm factors to asbestos cases … . Not all of the factors need be present; consolidation is appropriate so long as “individual issues do not predominate over the common questions of law and fact” (id.). However, in asbestos cases, it has been “routine” to join cases together for a single trial … . Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig, 2014 NY Slip Op 05054, 1st Dept 7-3-14

 

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