The Asbestos Alliance | Experts Speak Out

The Asbestos Problem
The Need For Congressional Action

The Asbestos Problem

Wisconsin State Journal (April 28, 2005):

"The load of manufactured lawsuits threatens the ability of real victims of asbestos to collect money, threatens jobs at companies facing ruin by asbestos litigation and threatens the integrity of the victim compensation system. It also drags courts into a job they are ill-suited for - trying to determine who is really sick and how they got that way."

Alan Reuther, United Autoworkers (April 26, 2005):

"There is widespread agreement that the current tort system does not fairly compensate asbestos victims. Most unfair are the situations where the defendant company is bankrupt, where the source of the asbestos can't be identified, where the workers' compensation system prevents suing the employer, or where the employer was the government and is immune from any liability."

John Engler, National Association of Manufacturers (April 26, 2005):

"More than 8,000 companies have been dragged into this litigation, from the Fortune 100 to small, family owned businesses. For thirty years these companies have been paying an asbestos tort tax, expending an estimated $70 billion. Nearly 60% of that money went to the asbestos trial bar, defense lawyers and court costs."

Veterans of Foreign Wars, 16 other veterans' groups (April 13, 2005):

"Asbestos has taken a heavy toll on our nation's veterans…we have virtually no avenue for compensation under the current system."

Senator John Cornyn, R-TX (January 11, 2005):

"Companies are going bankrupt, American workers are losing jobs, a handful of personal injury lawyers are running away with billions of dollars - all while the truly sick are not getting compensated fairly and efficiently - often times getting pennies on the dollar for their injury. This simply is unacceptable."

The Need For Congressional Action

Veterans of Foreign Wars, 16 other veterans' groups (April 13, 2005):

Trust fund legislation "is the only solution that will provide veterans suffering from asbestos-related illnesses with fair and certain compensation."

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT (January 11, 2005):

"Now is the time to renew and redouble our efforts and to seize this opportunity to enact a fair and balanced bill."

Mary Lou Keener, daughter of asbestos victim (January 11, 2005):

"The courts are clogged with asbestos cases, and even if she (my mother) finally has her day in court, the law firm will collect almost half of any jury award. That's why a trust fund solution is so important - the court system just doesn't work for lots of asbestos victims. A trust fund solution to this problem, if designed properly, will bring much needed compensation to veterans suffering from asbestos related diseases and end the vagaries and lengthy delays of the current tort/wrongful death systems."

The Hartford Courant (June 16, 2005):

"Under a fair and workable compromise negotiated by Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Congress would create a $140 billion trust fund with money from insurers and manufacturers. Claimants suffering from asbestos-related diseases would be compensated from the fund. In return most lawsuits would be banned."

The Washington Post (April 28, 2005):

"...the elephantine mass of asbestos cases…defies customary judicial administration and calls for national legislations."

The Detroit News (May 12, 2005):

"People making a claim would be required to meet medical criteria for mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of lung cancer, or other asbestos-related diseases. This is a significant change from the current system, which allows healthy people to sue companies on the premise that they might become sick at a later date. If the Senate does nothing, thousands of more jobs will be lost to the asbestos litigation craze."

Wisconsin State Journal (April 28, 2005):

"The legislation creates a federal Advisory Committee on Asbestos Disease Compensation within the Labor Department to evaluate claims for injury, based on medical science. The benefits of the fund would include speedier resolution of claims for victims, greater certainty of liability for businesses and insures, and both sides would save multimillions in lawyers' fees."

Senator Arlen Specter, R-PA:

"And today we approach a subject of, I think, great importance to the United States for tens of thousands of asbestos victims who are suffering without compensation because their companies have gone into bankruptcy and some 74 companies in bankruptcy are a tremendous drag on the economy."

Senator Patrick Leahy, R-PA:

"But that's the essence of legislative compromise: We either compromise or we have no bill. It's as simple as that. And this is a good compromise. We tried to protect the ultimate goal of fair compensation to victims. That's a lodestar of our efforts. We all had to make sacrifices on a group of subsidiary issues as we move forward. "

"What we have achieved is a significant step toward a better, more efficient way to compensate asbestos victims. This is the most lethal substance ever widely used in the workplace. Between 1940 and 1980, more than 27.5 million workers were exposed to asbestos on the job. Nearly 19 million of them have high exposure over long periods of time. We even know of family members who are suffering asbestos-related diseases just because they lived with -- because they washed the clothes of loved ones."