Lockheed Martin lost its bid to disqualify a plaintiff's lawyer from the asbestos MDL for ex parte communication, but it did win an award of sanctions.

In a case characterized as "tortured and contentious" by U.S. Magistrate Judge Faith Angell of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the lawyer representing the family of a man who had mesothelioma called the man's former supervisor, who is still employed by Lockheed Martin.