Md. Judge Thwarts CBS Corp. Removal of Asbestos Case Based on Expired Witness Deadline

BALTIMORE — A plaintiff’s failure to timely depose fact witnesses implicating the potential liability of in-state defendants is insufficient to trigger an asbestos defendant’s right to remove a take-home exposure case to federal court, a Maryland judge has ruled.

In remanding the case to state court, U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. said Oct. 31 that expiration of a court-imposed deadline for deposing witnesses should not be considered an event rendering the case removable based on the argument that in-state defendants were fraudulently joined to the lawsuit.

CBS Corp. removed the case to Judge Quarels’s U.S. District Court …