Judge throws manufacturers a lifeline with asbestos ruling

A judge who found what he called a "startling pattern" of abuse by plaintiffs’ lawyers may have shifted the landscape of asbestos litigation with a ruling in favor of manufacturers. In a decree last month, Judge George Hodges said the lawyers had manipulated evidence to get bigger settlements from Garlock Sealing Technologies, a bankrupt maker of asbestos gaskets. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say Hodges, a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, ignored precedents built up over years of asbestos litigation.

But manufacturers have seized on his ruling. Already, they have already cited it in at least three other cases in which they are fighting asbestos claims. Meanwhile, Palmyra, New York-based Garlock has filed lawsuits accusing four law firms of racketeering.