MARYLAND CASUALTY COMPANY, Petitioner, v. THE ASBESTOS CLAIMS COURT, and THE HONORABLE AMY EDDY, Asbestos Claims Court Judge, Respondent

OP 19-0051 MARYLAND CASUALTY COMPANY, Petitioner, v. THE ASBESTOS CLAIMS COURT, and THE HONORABLE AMY EDDY, Asbestos Claims Court Judge, Respondent. . Oral Argument is set for Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. in the Courtroom of the Montana Supreme Court, Joseph P. Mazurek Justice Building, Helena, Montana. In March 2018, the Asbestos Claims Court (ACC) selected Ralph Hutt—one of 884 plaintiffs in another case against Maryland Casualty Company (MCC)—to file a separate case against MCC in the ACC. In this case, Hutt alleged in part that MCC was negligent in providing industrial hygiene services because of actions it took while providing workers’ compensation insurance coverage to W.R. Grace in Libby. After MCC moved for summary judgment on this issue, the ACC ruled that as a matter of law, MCC owed a duty of care to warn Grace’s workers about the hidden hazard of asbestos exposure. MCC then petitioned the Montana Supreme Court for a writ of supervisory control. Noting that hundreds of cases against ACC would be affected by the ACC’s ruling in Hutt’s case, it argued that supervisory control was appropriate because the ACC was allegedly proceeding under a mistake of law. MCC argued that the ACC’s ruling erroneously created a new duty for insurers to warn others of dangers created by their insured and that the ACC failed to consider certain legal authority in reaching its decision. Hutt disagrees with MCC and argues that the ACC correctly ruled that MCC owed a duty of care to warn the workers about asbestos exposure at Grace.

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