logo
South Carolina Supreme Court Affirms the Power of State Court Receivers

South Carolina Supreme Court Affirms the Power of State Court Receivers

Business Wire22-05-2025

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The South Carolina Supreme Court handed down a ruling that has major implications for asbestos litigation and insurance recovery.
'The ruling sends a clear message: companies cannot profit from doing business in the U.S. and then evade responsibility when they hurt Americans by refusing to obey court orders,' said Trey Branham, partner at Dean Omar Branham Shirley.
The state's high court affirmed sanctions against Canadian company Atlas Turner Inc., including a default judgment for refusing to provide court-ordered discovery in an attempt to shield liability in an asbestos-related death. The ruling also upheld the appointment of a receiver to pursue the company's insurance assets.
'The ruling sends a clear message: companies cannot profit from doing business in the U.S. and then evade responsibility when they hurt Americans by refusing to obey court orders,' said Trey Branham, partner at Dean Omar Branham Shirley, who, along with Theile McVey of Kassell McVey, represented the family of Melvin Welch.
Mr. Welch died in 2023 of mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and is only caused by exposure to asbestos. Atlas Turner, an active company in Canada, produced and sold asbestos insulation in South Carolina, where Mr. Welch was exposed.
'Companies like Atlas and its sister company, Asbestos Corporation Limited, have, for decades, thumbed their noses at U.S. court orders, after profiting from selling poisons in South Carolina and nearly every other state. We are grateful that the South Carolina Supreme Court understood this and is holding them to the rule of law,' Mr. Branham said.
The court's opinion describes the company's conduct as 'willful' and 'contemptuous,' citing its repeated refusal to comply with court-ordered discovery. Further, the court rejects the company's argument that Canadian law prohibited compliance.
The ruling is expected to have broad consequences for future asbestos litigation, especially in cases involving defunct defendants, defendants that refuse to obey court orders and insurance assets that plaintiffs struggle to access.
'This case is about protecting the rights of Americans and making sure companies and insurers are held responsible for injuries they've caused, no matter where they are located,' Ms. McVey said.
Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP is a nationally recognized trial firm that handles cases across the country for individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries or have died as a result of the irresponsible conduct of others. For more information, visit www.dobslegal.com.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help
70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help

Yahoo

time22 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help

Survey of 1,000 employees in the US MUNICH, June 11, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US workers welcome robot technology in the workplace: About 70% think that robots help manufacturers to deal with the lack of factory workers ensuring competitiveness. Two-thirds believe the use of robots will help to bring industrial production back home. These are findings of the automatica Trend Index 2025. The study surveyed 1,000 employees in the US on behalf of automatica, the world´s leading trade fair for robotics and automation (24-27 June in Munich, Germany). The US government is actively working to bring industrial production back to the United States. As the world's most advanced manufacturing countries have shown, robots are the key to integrating automation into a factory: China has more than doubled the ratio of robots to factory workers in four years (2018-2022), and now ranks third in the world. Robot density in China reached 470 robots per 10,000 workers in 2023, compared to 295 units in the United States, which ranks tenth, according to the International Federation of Robotics. 2.1 million unfilled jobs The push for automation technology is strongly driven by labor shortages. The Manufacturing Institute (MI) predicts that nearly 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled by 2030 due to a lack of skilled workers. The automatica trend index shows that US workers welcome robots to take over dirty, dull and dangerous tasks: A strong majority of 75% believe that robots reduce the risk of injury to humans by performing tasks such as heavy lifting. 73% see robots as an important solution for handling hazardous materials. 65% say robots will assist workers, allowing older people to stay in work longer. "Showing how robots can take over repetitive or dangerous tasks, while allowing workers to focus on higher-value jobs, is important for the successful integration of robotics into a factory workforce," says Patrick Schwarzkopf, advisory board member of automatica at Messe München in Germany. "Driven by a number of technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, easy-to-use programming or cost-saving efficiency, industrial robotics is becoming more accessible to companies than ever before. This will be demonstrated at the world's leading trade fair for intelligent automation and robotics 'automatica 2025' from June 24 to 27 in Munich, Germany. FULL TEXT press release at: About automaticahttps:// View source version on Contacts econNEWSnetworkCarsten HeerTel. +49 40 82244284newsroom@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help
70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help

Business Wire

time30 minutes ago

  • Business Wire

70% of U.S. Workers Want Robots To Help

MUNICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- US workers welcome robot technology in the workplace: About 70% think that robots help manufacturers to deal with the lack of factory workers ensuring competitiveness. Two-thirds believe the use of robots will help to bring industrial production back home. These are findings of the automatica Trend Index 2025. The study surveyed 1,000 employees in the US on behalf of automatica, the world´s leading trade fair for robotics and automation (24-27 June in Munich, Germany). Workers Want Robots To Help - automatica Report 2025 Share The US government is actively working to bring industrial production back to the United States. As the world's most advanced manufacturing countries have shown, robots are the key to integrating automation into a factory: China has more than doubled the ratio of robots to factory workers in four years (2018-2022), and now ranks third in the world. Robot density in China reached 470 robots per 10,000 workers in 2023, compared to 295 units in the United States, which ranks tenth, according to the International Federation of Robotics. 2.1 million unfilled jobs The push for automation technology is strongly driven by labor shortages. The Manufacturing Institute (MI) predicts that nearly 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled by 2030 due to a lack of skilled workers. The automatica trend index shows that US workers welcome robots to take over dirty, dull and dangerous tasks: A strong majority of 75% believe that robots reduce the risk of injury to humans by performing tasks such as heavy lifting. 73% see robots as an important solution for handling hazardous materials. 65% say robots will assist workers, allowing older people to stay in work longer. "Showing how robots can take over repetitive or dangerous tasks, while allowing workers to focus on higher-value jobs, is important for the successful integration of robotics into a factory workforce," says Patrick Schwarzkopf, advisory board member of automatica at Messe München in Germany. "Driven by a number of technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, easy-to-use programming or cost-saving efficiency, industrial robotics is becoming more accessible to companies than ever before. This will be demonstrated at the world's leading trade fair for intelligent automation and robotics 'automatica 2025' from June 24 to 27 in Munich, Germany.

Trump hails limited trade agreement with China after talks in London
Trump hails limited trade agreement with China after talks in London

Boston Globe

time35 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

Trump hails limited trade agreement with China after talks in London

Advertisement Less than two weeks after accusing China of violating a trade-war truce, Trump on Wednesday had nothing but praise for the Chinese leader. 'President Xi and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!' the president wrote in a second Truth Social post. Under the renewed truce, the United States will impose a 55 percent tariff on Chinese goods, and China will hit American products with a 10 percent import tax, the president said. Those are both higher rates than before Trump took office, but lower than the triple-digit tariff levels that each nation imposed this spring. US and Chinese negotiators agreed late Tuesday to try again to implement the trade-war truce that collapsed amid recriminations on both sides just weeks after it was reached during an earlier round of talks in Geneva. Advertisement Speaking near midnight in London, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced what he called a 'handshake' deal to put into effect the terms of the May 12 US-China agreement that called for both nations to lower their tariffs and take additional steps to facilitate trade. 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick told reporters, referring to a June 5 telephone conversation between Trump and Xi. 'I think it's really beneficial to the United States of America. It's very beneficial to the Chinese and the China economy.' Negotiators released no text of either the London framework or the earlier Geneva accord to de-escalate the US-China trade war. But Lutnick said both nations would remove new trade barriers they had erected as the truce broke down. That means China is expected to permit an increased flow of critical materials known as 'rare earths' for auto and defense production. As those shipments increase, the United States will lift measures that it imposed recently 'in a balanced way,' Lutnick said. 'We do absolutely expect that the topic of rare-earth minerals and magnets, with respect to the United States of America, will be resolved in this framework implementation,' Lutnick said. He did not specify which US measures would be lifted in response. But his department has implemented a number of restrictions on exports to China of aerospace technology and advanced semiconductor equipment, which Chinese officials urgently want removed. Lutnick described the diplomatic breakthrough as the first step toward expanding US-China trade, which topped $580 billion last year. The United States buys more than three times as much from China as Chinese customers buy from Americans, a trade deficit that the president has inveighed against for years as a measure of industrial decline. Advertisement 'We have an existing, significant trade deficit, and President Trump's fundamental goal is to reduce the trade deficit and increase trade. So this was the first step of the framework by which we will then approach and discuss growing trade . But first we had to sort of get the negativity out," Lutnick said. Briefing reporters outside Lancaster House, the 19th-century mansion in London's West End that hosted two days of talks, Lutnick credited the involvement of both presidents with producing quick results. 'You have to get things done if you're working for President Trump. I'm sure they felt they had to get it done because they were working for President Xi,' he said. The US delegation also included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Bessent left the talks a few hours early to return to Washington in time to appear before Congress on Wednesday. The Chinese team was led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, a close associate of Xi. In China, Li Chenggang, China's vice commerce minister, said the talks were 'professional, rational, in-depth and candid,' according to Chinese state media, and Beijing hopes the discussions will 'be conducive to increasing trust between China and the United States.' Yao Yang, an economist at Peking University, said the fact that Beijing and Washington engaged in negotiations amid bitter trade tensions is positive. 'The Chinese government's stance has always been, if you want to fight, we are going to take it. But the purpose of fighting is not just for the sake of fighting, it is to prepare for negotiation or to bring the other side to the negotiation table,' he said. Advertisement Yet even as the latest attempt to put US-China relations on a sound footing moved forward, Greer nodded to the long list of issues that divide the two sides. The Trump administration has complained about Chinese policies that fuel what it sees as excess production of manufactured goods, which depress global prices and hurt American factory workers. 'There are some things that the Chinese and US economies, they just don't fit together very well. Other things, maybe they do. And there'll be a time for broader conversations on that,' he said. The 90-day pause on triple-digit tariffs that amounted to a de facto US-China trade embargo expires Aug. 12. In response to a question about prospects for an extension, Greer said that would be up to the president. Further talks are expected, though no date has been agreed to yet. The Trump administration notched a legal win Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled that many of the tariffs the president imposed on China can remain while the government appeals a lower-court ruling that found they were illegal. The Court of International Trade, a little-known specialized court in New York, ruled last month that Trump exceeded his authority by invoking emergency powers to impose tariffs on imports from China and other nations. The Trump administration quickly appealed and the appeals court temporarily paused the lower court's decision. On Tuesday, it said that pause could stay in place while the appeal was decided. Advertisement 'The court also concludes that these cases present issues of exceptional importance warranting expedited en banc consideration of the merits in the first instance,' the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Tuesday. The appeals court said it would expedite the issue and hear arguments July 31.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store