Judge Orders Single Jury to Hear Plaintiff's Sea-, Land-Based Claims

CLEVELAND - A federal judge has ordered an asbestos plaintiff's sea-based and land-based claims to be tried before the same jury but under separate federal maritime and state laws, saying that the interest of judicial efficiency warrants a single fact-finder for interrelated causes of action. Rich v. A-C Product Liability Trust, et al., No. 98-14094 (N.D. Ohio).

In a Nov. 13 order, Judge James G. Carr of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio said the decision to try the claims of Charles Rich before a single jury is in line with liberal rules of joinder, Supreme …