Mo. Judge Refuses to Compel Arbitration of Asbestos Coverage Dispute

ST. LOUIS –– A Missouri federal judge has refused to compel arbitration of a coverage dispute between Mallinckrodt US LLC and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., finding that the insurer had not provided the court with a basis for considering the question of whether its cost sharing agreement with Mallinckrodt was subject to arbitration.

On Oct. 2, Judge Catherine D. Perry of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri urged the parties to “reconsider their current posture and attempt to resolve this dispute,” adding that their failure to do so already “smacks of gamesmanship.”

After it was …