New York’s highest court on Thursday ruled that the successor-in-interest to a vessel owner failed to prove that a seaman’s prior settlement of a personal injury suit operated to bar a later suit for exposure to asbestos.
A narrow majority of the court said the record did not establish that Mason South had full knowledge of the claims he was releasing at the time he agreed to the settlement when viewed through the protective lens of the admiralty law.
South worked as a merchant marine from 1945 to 1982. For part of this time, South worked aboard ships owned by Texaco Inc.
In 199...
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