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Wednesday, November 06, 2002Here's what an asbestos litigator has to say about some of his colleagues: Asbestos litigation has become a national nightmare as well as a national disgrace," said Steven Kazan, a lawyer representing victims of mesothelioma, a painful cancer caused by asbestos. "This has nothing to do with health anymore and everything to do with lawyers taking advantage of economic opportunity." Another lawyer, who defends industry against the claims, made this observation about the explosion of suits filed by people without any disease at all against companies whose only involvement was that they later bought a company that once used asbestos: "In this day and age, the burden of asbestos litigation has nothing to do with culpability," O'Connell said. "You've got people who are not sick suing people who never made the stuff." Companies settle out of court rather than risk large punative damages. As a result, they often go bankrupt and end up unable to pay just compensation to people who actually deserve it: As money is used to pay those who are not sick, dying claimants or their widows and children get a fraction of their due. Lynne Marion of Bay Village, for instance, will see no more than $150,000 of a $4.4 million award for the death of her 51-year-old husband, Dennis, a mechanic. Ohio has one senator who is trying to get things changed: The system has to change, said Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held hearings in September to consider a legislative solution. "As things stand now, victims face a growing risk of never being compensated for asbestos-related illness, and many businesses face a growing risk of liquidation," DeWine said. Twice, the U.S. Supreme Court has called on Congress to deal with the "elephantine mass of asbestos cases," saying a judicial remedy to the never-ending crisis is improbable if not impossible. Yet the partisan fight seems unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Democrats support trial lawyers who don't want changes; Republicans back corporate interests who do. Maybe now that the balance of power has shifted, change will come. posted by Sydney on 11/06/2002 09:24:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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