There used to be lots of asbestos, apparently, and now there are still a lot of asbestos suits.
Here in New Orleans a lot of those suits involve people who used to work in or on or around boats, and often those claims are brought in Civil District Court. But arguably they shouldn’t be brought at all because, arguably, those folks are really maritime workers, their exclusive remedy is under the Longshore Act. This is a big difference: it’s the difference between basically a sum certain per a schedule (longshore), versus whatever a judge or jury so decides.*
But routinely, the asbestos cases go to trial in state court anyway, and the state court judge says that the judge or jury can award damages. Not great for the defendants, if in fact the plaintiffs should only have a longshore claim.
“Somebody ought to do something to fix this,” somebody must have said, and lo, a plan was hatched: sue the state court judge in federal court for an injunction.
Uhhhhh. Hmmm. This is a creative plan. But it has a problem: the anti-injunction act. The anti-injunction act is a law that Congress passed that says, basically, federal courts can’t enjoin state courts except in exceedingly rare circumstances. And lo, the defendants lost and the plaintiffs probably tried their case in state court (or more likely tried one day of the case then settled for a dump truck load of money.) Imagine showing up to Court in front of the judge you just sued and putting on a defense. Imagine lodging an objection in front of that judge, whom, again, you had literally just sued.
So justice prevailed. Probably? We don’t know? Justice kind of prevailed, probably. If it is true that the exclusive remedy is under the Longshore Act and if it is true that Congress’s chosen remedy did not prevail, then justice did not prevail in the immediate. But if it’s not true (and I am not an expert here) then justice prevailed, and even if it is true we probably don’t want federal courts telling state courts what to do all the time, which is why there’s an anti-injunction act in the first place.
*Your scribe was called to jury duty in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. I said to myself that if so selected, I would duly serve on a jury. And then I was called to a jury pool for a ten-day asbestos trial, and my courage to serve turned to cowardice and I knew some of the lawyers involved so was immediately dismissed. First one out. Not sad about not spending ten days in an asbestos trial.
**I am also pretty sure I know one of the lawyers involved who is a good guy and good lawyer.