NCOIL To Meet On Asbestos Issue

NU Online News Service, July 8, 3:40 p.m. EDT?An organization of state legislators is due to consider a resolution that would tell Congress the group supports legislation to set limits on asbestos lawsuits.

The issue is scheduled for two days of discussion beginning Thursday in Williamsburg, Va., when the National Conference of Insurance Legislators' Property Casualty Insurance Committee is to convene a hearing to discuss the resolution dealing with the "need for effective asbestos reform."

The resolution as proposed calls on Congress to provide for fair compensation for functionally impaired asbestos victims and to allow a liberalized statute of limitations, based on medical criteria, for asbestos claims brought by unimpaired victims.

It seeks legislation that ensures financial solvency for businesses exposed to asbestos related lawsuits, requires claimants to file suit in the jurisdictions in which they were exposed to asbestos, and limits consolidation of asbestos claims.

A preamble to the proposed resolution notes that suits brought by unimpaired asbestos victims have outpaced those from the "truly sick," and that 90 percent of claimants exhibit no symptoms.

It also notes that asbestos suits have bankrupted more than 60 companies, adding that the American Bar Association and other groups have called for fair compensation and supported medical criteria to distinguish between impaired and unimpaired claimants.

The initial session, expected to take two hours, is due to hear from various experts concerning the proposed resolution, which has been sponsored by the committee chairman, North Dakota State Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck.

NCOIL has set consideration of the asbestos issue to coincide with the scheduled start of deliberations by the U.S. Senate Judiciary on Senate Bill 1125, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act of 2003.

That proposed legislation, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would establish a national asbestos trust fund to compensate functionally impaired asbestos victims.

NCOIL, based in Albany, N.Y., is an organization of state legislators whose main area of public policy concern is insurance legislation and regulation.

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NCOIL To Meet On Asbestos Issue

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