- The North Carolina Court of Appeals will allow 13 asbestos-related lawsuits to proceed against the owner of a former Charlotte tire manufacturer.
- Those 13 cases were among more than 150 complaints initially filed against Continental Tire.
- The North Carolina Industrial Commission had dismissed the cases based on decisions in “bellwether” cases resolved in 2019 against plaintiffs making similar asbestos-related claims.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals will allow 13 lawsuits to proceed against the owner of former tire manufacturing facility in Charlotte. The plaintiffs were among more than 150 people who initially claimed damages based on alleged exposure to asbestos.
The split 2-1 ruling Wednesday reversed a decision from the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which had dismissed all of the cases. The commission had ruled that the lawsuits were barred by the outcomes of previous “bellwether” cases. The state Appeals Court upheld rulings against plaintiffs in those lawsuits in the 2019 case Hinson v. Continental Tire.
Most of the cases decided Wednesday relied on reasoning set forward in Funderburk v. Continental Tire. That case focused on a worker diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012 who died in 2013. His widow, Debra Gail Funderburk, has been pursuing the legal action for more than a decade…