Asbestos Bankruptcies Facing Fresh Challenges After J&J Ruling

As a kid, Lori Knapp watched her dad come home with his work clothes completely splattered in white.

It was the 1970s in South Florida, and Ed Chapman worked for contractors during a housing boom, applying drywall and spray texture to walls and ceilings in thousands of retirement village homes, commercial sites, and high-rises.

Chapman didn’t wear a mask and didn’t know the materials he was inhaling were toxic. A few times, his daughter tagged along and watched as he dumped the powder into a machine to mix the paste, she said.

“And the puff—the smoke—would just come up and ...