Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and Continental Tire are pressing the North Carolina Supreme Court to review a recent appellate ruling tied to asbestos-related workers’ compensation disputes.
Their argument: the September decision undermines state precedent and risks rewriting rules for complex litigation.
The case stems from a series of “bellwether” trials at the North Carolina Industrial Commission. In those cases, the Commission sided with Continental and dismissed workers’ comp claims, ruling the plaintiffs had not proven factory conditions exposed them to asbestos at levels sufficient to cause their diseases.
Most plaintiffs dropped their complaints after those five bellwether decisions, but 14 chose to press ahead.
The Court of Appeals later ruled the Commission erred by treating the bellwether outcomes as binding across the board.
The appellate panel held that the remaining plaintiffs should have a chance to present new evidence.
That finding drew immediate pushback. In their petition, Liberty Mutual and Continental said the appeals court essentially invented a new rule that conflicts with existing state precedent.
They warned it sets up a troubling framework where losing parties might get what they called “a second bite at the apple.”
The Supreme Court is being asked to weigh several key issues: whether bellwether rulings can block future claims, how appellate courts should treat earlier decisions, and what level of review applies to Industrial Commission outcomes.
The stakes go beyond this set of asbestos cases. If the appeals decision stands, the companies argue, it could reshape how North Carolina courts handle large-scale litigation.
