Back on Sept. 5, 2018, the 4th District Appellate Court introduced heightened standards for plaintiffs to establish duty and causation in asbestos litigation through its reversal of a downstate McLean County trial court’s decision denying a defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.In McKinney v. Hobart Brothers Co., 2018 IL App (4th) 170333, Charles McKinney sued Hobart Brothers Co., alleging his eight-month workplace exposure to Hobart’s asbestos-containing welding rods in 1962 and …