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  5. 929 F.Supp. 1 (1996)
 

IN RE JOINT EASTERN AND SOUTHERN DISTS. ASBESTOS

Nos. CV-90-3973 (E.D.N.Y.), CV-90-7518 (S.D.N.Y.).

929 F.Supp. 1 (1996)

In re JOINT EASTERN AND SOUTHERN DISTRICTS ASBESTOS LITIGATION. Bernadine K. FINDLEY, as Executrix of the Estate of Hilliard Findley; Uma Lail Caldwell, as Executrix of the Estate of Odell Caldwell; Edward Lindley, Joseph C. Jones, and James William Barnette, Jr., on behalf of themselves, and all others similarly situated as beneficiaries of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, Plaintiffs, v. Robert A. FALISE, Louis Klein, Jr., Christian E. Markey, Jr., and Frank Macchiarola, not individually, but solely in their capacities as Trustees of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, Defendants. In re JOHNS-MANVILLE CORPORATION, et al., Debtors.

United States District Court, E. and S.D. New York.

June 10, 1996.

Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Caplin & Drysdale (by Elihu Inselbuch, James Sottile, IV, Christian R. Pastore), New York City, Cartwright, Slobodin, Bokelman, Borowsky, Wartnick, Moore & Harris, Inc. (by Harry F. Wartnick), San Francisco, CA, Baron & Budd, (by Frederick M. Baron), Dallas, TX, Rose, Klein & Marias, (by Robert B. Steinberg), Los Angeles, CA, Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole, P.A. (by Ronald L. Motley, Joseph F. Rice), Charleston, SC, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.C., (by Christopher M. Placitella, Philip Pahigian), Woodbridge, NJ, for Class.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, (by Leslie Gordon Fagen, Jean McMahon), New York City, for Future Claimants.

Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz (by Francis J. Lawall, Charles H. Carpenter), Philadelphia, PA, Steele & Sales, P.S., (by Katherine Steele), Seattle, WA, for Distributor Sub-class.

Debevoise & Plimpton, (by Anne E. Cohen, Roger E. Podesta), New York City, for Codefendant Subclass.

Lani A. Adler, New York City, for Subclass of Claimants with Pre-November 1990 Settlements and Judgments.

John H. Faricy, Jr., Minneapolis, MN, for MacArthur Subclass.

Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., (by Perry Weitz, Richard Nemsoff), New York City, for Subclass of Present Claimants.

Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiedman & Cohen (by Roberta Golden, Robert Lapowsky, Judah Labovitz), Philadelphia, PA, for Pacor Settlement Trust.

Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos, (by Peter G. Angelos, Timothy J. Hogan), Baltimore, MD, for Maryland Plaintiffs.

Goldberg, Persky, Jennings & White, P.C. (by Craig L. Vandergrift, Theodore Goldberg, Robert L. Jennings), Pittsburgh, PA, for Pennsylvania Plaintiffs.

Cooney & Conway (by Kathy Byrne), Chicago, IL, Gavin & Gavin (by James C. Gavin), Philadelphia, PA, Greitzer & Locks (by Lee B. Balefsky), Philadelphia, PA, Thomas W. Henderson, Pittsburgh, PA, Hal Pitkow, Washington Crossing, PA, Robert E. Sweeney Co., L.P.A. (by Robert E. Sweeney), Cleveland, OH, for Various Other Claimants.

Carla G. Hancock and Maxine Smith, Vivian, LA, for J.C. Smith.

Pollack & Greene (by Harold Goldfuss), for Laura Goldfuss.

Ms. Zeldonia J. Jackson, Fort Worth, TX, for Estate of George E. and Tena Lee Jackson, Sr.

Berlack, Israels & Liberman (by Carole L. Fern), New York City, for Keene Corp.

Hodgson, Russ, Andrews, Woods & Goodyear (by Michael P. Murphy), Buffalo, NY, Wiley, Rein & Fielding (by Bert W. Rein, Keith S. Watson), Washington, DC, for United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, L.L.P. (by Louis G. Close, Jr., Gardner M. Duvall), Baltimore, MD, for Porter Hayden Co.

Jeffrey M. Weiner, Wilmington, DE, for DI Distributors, Inc.

Myles O'Malley, William Rausnitz, Barbara Zelluck, Newark, NJ, for National Asbestos Victims Legal Organizing Committee and the White Lung Information Centers of New York and New Jersey.

James Fite, Paul Safchuck, Baltimore, MD, for White Lung Association.

David T. Austern, Patricia Dansbury, Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, Fairfax, VA, Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine (by James L. Stengel, Laurie S. Dix, Richard De Marco, Steven Fink), New York City, for Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust.

Mark Peterson, Rand Institute, Santa Monica, CA, Special Advisor to the Courts.

AMENDED MEMORANDUM, ORDER, AND JUDGMENT

WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge, and BURTON R. LIFLAND, Bankruptcy Judge:

   I. Introduction .......................................................... 3

  II. When Federal Courts Must Decide an Issue of State Law ................. 4

      A. Duty to Decide ..................................................... 4

      B. Discretion and the Declaratory Judgment Act ........................ 5

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