Asbestos

Secrest Wardle continues to be a charter member of the Wayne County Personal Injury Asbestos Steering Committee. The Steering Committee was established by the presiding asbestos judge of Wayne County Circuit Court to manage asbestos litigation across the state. Committee members were appointed based upon the court’s opinion of each firm’s legal qualifications, the number of clients it represents, and the firm’s overall asbestos experience. As a consequence of its position on the Steering Committee, Secrest Wardle has been deeply involved in drafting and revising the Court’s Omnibus Case Management Order, Standardized Pleadings, Standardized Discovery, and the selection and appointment of the electronic docketing vendor. The clients of the Firm, through the Firm’s membership in the Steering Committee, have a voice in directing the litigation and an intimate knowledge of the workings of this unique judicial process.

Secrest Wardle is also a founding member of the Michigan Medical Joint Defense Group which provides significant savings to our clients through the sharing of the costs of medical records and experts. The organization consists of nine experienced law firms that are skilled in preparing the medical aspects of asbestos cases. Each member is responsible for the medical work-up of one ninth of the total cases, including obtaining plaintiffs’ medical records, expert reports, and the appropriate defense expert review. The information obtained is shared only with members of the group.

Secrest Wardle is Michigan’s most experienced, competent, and technologically-enhanced asbestos defense firm. The Firm currently represents clients in cases pending in the State of Michigan, but the Firm has also represented an asbestos manufacturer on a national basis in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Secrest Wardle has successfully defended manufacturers, distributors and contractors involved in asbestos litigation since 1983. As a result, the Firm has acquired the experience and skill needed to successfully and efficiently defend its clients whether they are named in one case or one thousand cases. Our experience also allows us to customize an individualized defense that fits each client’s needs, whether that means resolution through settlement, mediation, or trial.

Secrest Wardle represented seven defendants in the Master Saginaw Asbestos Litigation, a modified class action which included 3,200 cases filed in Saginaw County, Michigan. The Firm successfully resolved those matters in a global settlement at a significant cost savings to its clients. The Firm was also successful in obtaining a reversal of the trial judge’s denial of the Firm’s Motion for Summary Judgment. In the leading Statute of Repose case in the state, the Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the Michigan Court of Appeals’ reversal of the trial judge’s ruling in Abbott v John E Green Co, 223 Mich App 194 (1998), lv den, 461 Mich 868 (1999). The appellate court’s ruling resulted in the dismissal of 6,400 cases that had been filed against our clients.