Trial Lawyers and Big Business Light the Peace Pipe Over Carcinogen Claims
By Robert Warne - May 29, 2002As compensation sources rapidly shrivel for asbestos victims, there is a group working to bring clarity in the midst of a blur of claims. From the asbestos claims chaos The Asbestos Alliance has been born.
The Alliance is led by the National Association of Manufacturers and includes the American Insurance Association (AIA).
Also under the roof of the Alliance resides a rare alignment between trial lawyers and their adversaries, big business and insurance companies. Together they have been cooking up a fair asbestos solution.
The crossover trial lawyers have set off a civil war within the plaintiffs bar and American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA).
The purpose of the Alliance and those involved is to get Congress to step in to solve America’s asbestos crisis.
The proposed legislation consists of four ways that the Alliance thinks will provide a way for the claims to be better managed.
First, claimants that are the most ill should have priority in the courts. Guidelines will be established to determine medical needs and move those claimants accordingly to the front of the line for compensation.
Second, removal of the statute of limitations has been proposed so that those who aren’t ill don’t need to file a claim before the statute expires. Last year there were approximately 20,000 claims filed. "Up to half of asbestos claims are now being filed by people who have little or no physical impairment," said Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Third, the Alliance wants to do away with the “bet-the-company” mentality that has created shotgun settlements for groups of people—many who are perfectly healthy. Each claimant individually would have his or her own day in court.
And finally, the fourth proposal is to eliminate forum shopping. Claims should be tried in court with jurisdiction where the plaintiff resides or where the exposure occurred.
Those that are seriously ill from asbestos exposure aren’t the only ones who have been plagued.
Bankruptcies threaten the amount of compensation available to victims who need their claims paid.
Employees who work for companies with asbestos exposure have seen their nest eggs cracked open as stock ownership and 401(k) plans have been dramatically devalued.
Retirees who rely on stock dividends from defendant companies to live on have seen their income diminish. Shareholders and bondholders of defendant companies have also seen stock values dwindle and in some cases dividends have been eliminated.
Vendors lose a source of business and in some cases may not get paid from bankrupt companies. And insurance companies are seeing their reserves dwindle as well.
The ATLA is against the initiative because it would limit the rights of those not yet sick.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Fred Baron, the former ATLA president said that backers of the Alliance want to eliminate 80 to 90 percent of pending claims. He doesn’t see this type of legislation having a chance of passing.
The flood of claims has forced over 50 companies into bankruptcy. There are an estimated 200,000 claims currently pending in state and federal courts and 90,000 claims were filed last year. According to the Rand Institute for Civil Justice, the average claim now cites more than 60 firms.
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