High Court Remands Claims for Severance, Finds No Litigable Event Linking Plaintiffs

JACKSON, Miss. -- A Mississippi Supreme Court has remanded a nine-plaintiff asbestos case for severance, finding that the plaintiffs failed to assert a single transaction or occurrence connecting their claims. Crossfield v. Irby, et al., No. 2003-IA-02378-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct.).

The Feb. 3 decision by the state's highest court reversed an earlier circuit court ruling which denied a defense motion to sever and transfer or dismiss the claims. The Supreme Court instead determined that the plaintiffs' different work and medical histories justified severance.

The nine plaintiffs alleged that asbestos exposure at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., caused various injuries. …