Debate ahead on asbestos suits

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Published Monday, June 28, 1999, in the San Mercury News

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Debate ahead on asbestos suits

Congress to discuss measure that would change legal process

BY STEPHEN LABATON

New York Times

WASHINGTON -- After the U.S. Supreme Court threw up its hands in

exasperation last week, Congress is preparing to begin debate Thursday on a

measure that would dramatically overhaul the way the legal system resolves

lawsuits brought by people harmed by asbestos.

As it rejected a settlement of asbestos litigation approved by two lower

courts, the court implored Congress to devise a legislative solution to

``the elephantine mass of asbestos cases'' that the justices said were

clogging federal and state dockets, enriching lawyers in protracted court

proceedings that ultimately leave many victims of asbestos poisoning with

little or nothing.

Taking up the court's request, the House Judiciary Committee will begin

hearings this week to build support for legislation that would dramatically

alter the current legal regime for handling asbestos cases.

The fight over the legislation features some of Washington's most powerful

interests, pitting larger manufacturers of asbestos and the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce against trial lawyers and unions.

Since more asbestos claims are filed in federal and state courts than any

other kind of civil case, the debate in Congress is part of a larger fight

over the United States' system for resolving tort cases. But asbestos cases

have proved to be a particular challenge for judges and the courts because

of the nature of the ailments that the substance causes.

Exposure to asbestos may not manifest injuries until decades later, and

illnesses it may cause range from the relatively minor to the deadly. The

AFL-CIO, which opposes the legislation, estimated that as many as 1 million

of its current and retired members were exposed to asbestos; many of them

will develop debilitating or deadly ailments.

A judicial study cited by the Supreme Court predicted that there may be as

many as 265,000 asbestos-related deaths by 2015.

The measures under consideration by Congress eliminate punitive damages in

asbestos cases, prohibit victims from making use of the often more generous

state court systems, and cap lawyers' fees at a maximum of 25 percent of

settlements.

The legislation would create an administrative agency financed by the

industry and its insurers to process the hundreds of thousands of pending

claims filed by workers who have been exposed to asbestos since the 1940s.

Claimants could go to court to seek more money, but only after exhausting a

hearing and mediation process run by the new agency.

The legislation would also eliminate any barriers to bringing lawsuits posed

by the statute of limitations. Its supporters said it will result in far

more claims being resolved far faster and at lower cost.

The legislation has been endorsed by the Republican chairmen of the

judiciary committees, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Rep. Henry Hyde of

Illinois, and a number of leading Democrats, as well as the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce and several large and powerful former manufacturers of asbestos

products, led by GAF Corp.

But labor groups, trial lawyers and some consumer organizations oppose the

measure, saying it would make matters worse for everyone but the handful of

companies like GAF that want to limit their potential liabilities.

``This legislation just creates a new federal bureaucracy which at the end

of the day won't provide any payments to anybody,'' said ph Rice, a

plaintiff's lawyer from ton, S.C., who found himself on the losing

end of last week's Supreme Court decision.