Asbestos Law: Is It As Fair As It Should Be?

2007-03-08 10:33:40

( Legal )



Several years ago, as a reaction to the spate of asbestos lawsuits, a Supreme Court chief justice said that the elephantine mass of asbestos claim cases cries out for a legislative solution. In another Supreme Court opinion, an associate justice declared that a nationwide administrative claims processing regime should be established to provide the most secure, equitable, and cost-effective means of compensating asbestos exposure victims.

You may be familiar with the Senate asbestos hearings and Senate attempts to craft an asbestos law. The last asbestos law proposal in early 2006 stalled without reaching the Senate floor. The asbestos-related disease problem involves the most complex issues. There are actually two asbestos law proposals in the Senate asbestos agenda.

Senate Bill 852

This bill proposes that the federal government manage a compensation fund, to be established with a maximum of 140 billion dollars in contributions from insurance companies and companies currently defending themselves from asbestos lawsuits. The Congress budget office and Senate budget committee staff analyses indicate that the amount of asbestos claims and the cost of running the fund would far exceed the amount of contributions.

The bill does not require additional contributions; instead, it will tighten the medical standards and criteria to qualify for claims. The other alternative is to pass the burden of the shortfall to taxpayers. The bill also provides that upon enactment, asbestos victims lose the right to file asbestos lawsuits and pending asbestos claim cases would be terminated.

Ban Asbestos Act

In 1989 the federal environmental protection agency finalized its regulations for a complete ban on asbestos, in furtherance of a previous law on toxic materials control. A circuit court overturned these regulations in 1991, and the government never exercised its right to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. As a result, existing uses of asbestos have remained legal and manufacture/importation of asbestos-containing products continue.


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