Paying for Asbestos

[Guest guest]

They have delayed anything on this for over 20 years in the hope that by the

time anything is settled that most people who are effected will have died

already.

 

 

 

 

J

Sun, 15 May 2005 22:03:22 -0700

Paying for Asbestos

 

 

 

Paying for Asbestos

 

By ARLEN SPECTER

Published: May 16, 2005

Washington

 

FOR over two decades, Congress has wrestled unsuccessfully with the

difficult problem of asbestos. Now, with Congress about to produce

legislation that will compensate Americans hurt by asbestos without

clogging the courts and causing undue economic hardship, Dick Armey, a

Republican and the former House majority leader, has led a huge and

misleading advertising campaign to defeat the bill.

 

The bill, which Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the

Judiciary Committee, and I introduced last month with broad bipartisan

support, would use a $140 billion trust fund to pay asbestos victims

in a no-fault program similar to workers' compensation. Workers

exposed to asbestos would be paid based on severity of injuries

without proving in court who would be liable under existing tort laws,

eliminating the high costs of litigation. Unlike current law, under

which those who have been exposed to asbestos may be compensated for

potential future injuries, damages can be collected only on proof of

existing harm. These and other provisions are the result of 40

bargaining sessions over the last two years among manufacturers, the

A.F.L.-C.I.O., insurers and trial lawyers.

 

But in radio ads that have run in 15 states, Mr. Armey says the bill

would levy $140 billion in new taxes to create a federal trust fund

for asbestos victims. He knows better. Manufacturers, which are liable

for asbestos injuries, and their insurers have offered to create the

$140 billion trust fund to avoid further liability. The bill is

explicit that the federal government would pay nothing into the fund.

 

Mr. Armey also asserts that the fund would set aside billions of those

tax dollars as payoffs to trial lawyers. In fact, the bill caps

lawyers' fees at 5 percent, compared with current contingent fees of

33 percent.

 

What Mr. Armey didn't tell his radio listeners was that, as reported

by the Washington newspaper Roll Call, the lobbying firm that he works

for has received nearly $1 million from Equitas, a British insurer

that has fought to stop this legislation. Posing as a disinterested

spokesman on behalf of the public interest, Mr. Armey is instead just

another paid lobbyist spreading disinformation.

 

Thousands of asbestos victims suffering from deadly diseases are

uncompensated because of the insolvency of the asbestos-related

companies that are prospective defendants. I stand ready to work with

responsible critics to resolve any remaining issues. Each month,

additional companies join the more than 70 already in the bankruptcy

courts. The economy has taken a terrific beating with these

bankruptcies and the losses of thousands of jobs. If we can put the

finishing touches on this bill, we can produce a triple-win for asbestos

victims, companies facing bankruptcy and the economy in general.

 

Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a

Republican senator from Pennsylvania.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/opinion/16specter.html?hp