The judge in a suit over alleged destruction of asbestos-related evidence by BASF Corp. and law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel has rejected claims that Roberto Rivera-Soto has a conflict of interest that should prevent him from serving as discovery special master.

BASF and Cahill opposed the appointment of Rivera-Soto, a former justice of the state Supreme Court, as special master because his firm, Ballard Spahr, was represented in an unrelated suit in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia by Williams & Connolly, which also represents Cahill in the present case.