Dubbed the nation's second worst "judicial hellhole" by the American Tort Reform Association, St. Clair County adopted the new rules creating the inactive docket late last month.

A similar system has also been adopted by neighboring Madison County, the only court ATRA has rated worse for corporate defendants.

The new rules for the court would put claims for non-impaired, non-malignant claimants on "inactive" status and were implemented as a means of managing the court's docket in the face of an overwhelming wave of litigation.

In its order establishing the deferred registry the court wrote: "Management of docket access and trial of asbestos bodily injury claims is a national problem of elephantine proportions involving multiple jurisdictions (state and federal) and hundreds of thousands of claims."

The court stated further that: "Justice, equity and fairness require that local court docketing and administration take into consideration the national problem created by asbestos-related claims and the need for local courts to administer and docket asbestos-related claims in conformity with the goal of bringing the claims of substantial bodily injury to trial first."

Those on the deferred registry will be able to move their cases to the active docket in the event that they develop a malignancy or meet the standards for a non-malignant claim developed by the American Bar Association in 2003.

Cases filed before Dec. 20, 2004, when the court held a hearing to decide to move forward with the plan creating the registry, will stay on the active docket.

"Overall, the order is a step forward and demonstrates continuing improvement in the asbestos legal environment in southern Illinois," said Mark Behrens, a partner in the firm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon, LLP, which represents insurers.

He added, "It also demonstrates growing acceptance of the inactive docket or medical criteria concept as a sound approach to solving a key part of the asbestos litigation problem?namely, filings by the physically unimpaired."

While making progress at the state level, asbestos tort reform efforts suffered a setback at the federal level last week. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, cancelled a committee meeting to vote on an asbestos measure.

Time is running short, and Sen. Specter himself has acknowledged that if a bill does not reach the floor in early April, it likely will not be acted on this year.

"The majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist, has reserved a window of floor debate around Easter," Sen. Specter said in an editorial appearing in the Washington Times. "As chairman, in projecting the work for the Judiciary Committee for the 109th Congress, I know we will not have time to return to asbestos with our crowded calendar and prospective Supreme Court nomination hearings."