Illinois Fifth District Appellate Justice Judy Lynn Cates
MT. VERNON — A Japanese automotive brakes maker can't escape becoming a target for asbestos lawsuits in Illinois courts, a state appeals panel has ruled.
On Sept. 8, a three-justice panel of the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court sided against manufacturer Japan Brake Industrial Company in its bid to exit a lawsuit brought by the family of plaintiff Donald R. Taylor over claims he contracted the cancer known as mesothelioma and died after inhaling asbestos fibers allegedly contained in brake parts he used while servicing cars at a Wood River Mazda dealership decades earlier.
In the decision, the Fifth District justices said it didn't matter that Japan Brake only directly sold its products to other Japanese companies that made the brake parts installed on Japanese-made cars sold in the U.S., in Illinois, and in Madison County, specifically.
It was enough that Japan Brake made and sold parts they knew were to be used in the U.S., and promoted the use of their products on cars sold in the U.S. by Mazda, Datsun, Nissan and other Japanese car brands.
Specifically, the justices said Japan Brake's sales to companies that ultimately sold their products in the U.S. was sufficient to establish that Japan Brake had the required "minimum contacts" to be sued in Madison County court by the family of Taylor, who not only lived in Madison County, but also worked on the Japanese-brand cars that used products made by Japan Brake.
The decision was authored by Justice Judy Lynn Cates, with justices Mark M. Boie and James Hackett concurring.
"Japan Brake knew that once it placed its customized parts into the stream of commerce in Japan, the distribution network established by Honda and Mazda would carry those parts into the United Sates for sale in all fifty states, including Illinois," Cates wrote in the opinion.
"Thus, the respective distribution networks of Honda and Mazda constituted the pipelines through which the customized brake products reached local auto dealerships and auto repair shops throughout the United States. In addition, Japan Brake targeted a select number of states, including Illinois, as potential locations to further its business and to foster new ventures.
"In so doing, Japan Brake purposefully directed its activities at Illinois, and thereby derived some benefit, even if indirect, from Illinois’s law and business climate."
The ruling allows the Taylor family to continue suing Japan Brake, among a list of other corporate defendants from whom they are seeking to secure payment for the illness and death of Donald Taylor.
Taylor filed suit himself in 2017, about two years before his death in 2019. His lawsuit is now continued by his relative, Melissa Taylor, who is serving as special administrator of his estate.
The lawsuit generally asserts Taylor contracted "mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancers" as a result of inhaling asbestos fibers while working on cars at the Tri-City Datsun/Mazda dealership in Wood River.
The dealership is not named as a defendant in the action.
Defendants in the action include Japan Brake; Akebono Brake Industry Company; John Crane Inc.; Nissan North America; Sears Roebuck & Co.; and Tracy Industries Inc.
Taylor is represented by attorneys John L. Steffan IV and Nate Mudd, of Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd, of St. Louis.
Japan Brake sought to exit the litigation in Madison County's courts, famously specializing in destination litigation over mesothelioma and other asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits.
Together with St. Clair County's courts, Madison County has long served as the top destination for asbestos-related injury suits in America.
That remained the case in 2025, even as asbestos filings ebbed slightly in the two Metro East counties, according to industry research from national technology and management consulting company KCIC.
According to KCIC, 872 asbestos-related lawsuits were filed in Madison County Circuit Court in 2025. And an additional 657 asbestos injury lawsuits were filed last year in St. Clair County Circuit Court, the KCIC report said.
Altogether, the two Metro East court systems tallied 1,529 asbestos-related lawsuits, or about 36% of the national total.
It is not clear from court dockets how many actions have been lodged against Japan Brake, specifically, in Madison County. But a search of the online court docket reveals few references to the company being listed as a defendant, particularly when compared to the dozens of companies that have long been named as routine defendants in such cases.
In the Taylor family's case against Japan Brake, the company asserted it should not be able to be sued in Illinois under those claims, because the state's courts should be able to exercise jurisdiction over the Japan-based manufacturer.
The company claimed it never sold its products directly to Illinois companies, but rather sold components used by other companies to make the brake calipers and other parts ultimately installed on Japanese brand automobiles in the U.S.
Japan Brake is represented by attorneys with the firms of Sinars Slowikowski Tomaska, of Chicago; and Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, of Boston. They were also represented before the Fift Circuit by attorney Michael T. Reagan, of Ottawa.
Judge Stephen Stobbs, however, disagreed, and his ruling was upheld on appeal. The judges found the use of Japan Brake's manufactured parts by Japanese car makers and Japanese brand car dealerships in Illinois was sufficient to force it to defend itself in Illinois' famously plaintiff-friendly courts.
"While we recognize that litigation, generally, is burdensome, we do not find that it would be unreasonable or unfair to require Japan Brake to defend this lawsuit in Illinois," Justice Cates wrote.
