Asbestos Plan Talks Continue

By Steven Brostoff

Washington

The insurance industry continued intense negotiations last week aimed at developing a consensus plan to fund the industrys share of a proposed asbestos claims resolution fund.

Anne Sittmann, a representative of the Des Plaines, Ill.-based National Association of Independent Insurers, said that discussions are ongoing and attempting to address the concerns of some companies.

Sources have told National Underwriter that the concerns revolve around how the insurance industrys $45 billion funding share will be allocated among individual companies.

These sources said that some companies fear they will end up with a disproportionately high liability.

At press time, the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to begin consideration of the asbestos reform legislation, S. 1125.

However, Ms. Sittmann said, the Committee session is likely to be preliminary and probably will not address insurance industry concerns.

The Committee was expected to carry over its consideration of S. 1125 to this week.


Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, June 23, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.


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