Asbestos Bill Makes Sense
It was good news indeed for the insurance industry and risk managers to hear that Congress might be ready to seriously consider legislation to resolve the increasingly messy asbestos litigation controversy.
As this editorial went to press, there was not yet a formal piece of legislation drafted. But Julie Rochman, senior vice president of public affairs for the Washington-based American Insurance Association, which is a key player in the asbestos initiative, tells NU that the basics will be relatively straightforward.
Right now, there is some tension between lawyers who represent plaintiffs who are clearly ill from asbestos-related problems, and those who represent plaintiffs who might one day become sick, but who are not ill today. The bill will attempt to make sure that claims made by those who are not ill do not reduce the amount of money available to compensate those suffering from asbestos-related illnesses right now.
However, this does not mean that those who might become ill will be left out in the cold. The bill would liberalize statutes of limitations, thus preserving the ability of those who are not sick to get compensation–if and when they meet the medical criteria to be established under the legislation.
The bill has a shot at passage because it is more triage than tort reform–it will not include any limitations on damages or attorneys fees. This fact, plus the potential support of trial attorneys who represent those who have been demonstrably harmed by asbestos, give the bill a decent chance in Congress.
From what we've heard, this sounds like a fair approach. With more and more major companies declaring bankruptcy because of asbestos-related claims, the available compensation pie is shrinking substantially. It's critical that those who are actually ill get compensated first. If the bill indeed preserves the rights of those who might become ill in the future, Congress should pass it without delay.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 10, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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