It may sound like the most technical of procedural issues—whether a federal judge can vacate the remand of a case to state court—but to the mass tort defense bar it’s a big deal.
On Nov. 25 Faith Gay of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan won a crucial ruling on this issue for client Colgate-Palmolive Co., which is battling suits contending that the Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder it once sold contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma. An en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a federal judge can vacate a remand order if there’s sufficient evidence that the plaintiffs lawyers used fraud to move the case back to state court.
