HEALTH

Closing Arguments Due in Asbestos Trial: A judge in Baltimore handling the nation’s largest mass trial of asbestos personal injury claims instructed jurors to treat all six defendant companies individually and not issue a blanket verdict. The trial, which consolidates nearly 9,000 claims by steel and shipyard workers, is being closely watched as part of an attempt by judges nationwide to reduce large backlogs of cases involving products containing asbestos. Circuit Judge Marshall A. Levin combined almost all asbestos cases in Maryland to try to speed resolution and provide compensation to the workers, many of whom have serious or fatal respiratory ailments. Closing arguments are to begin today.