Asbestos Vote Causes Rift Among Lawyers Groups
By Gary S. Mogel
In a major rift with the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America condemned an ABA vote to support medical standards in asbestos litigation last week.
At the ABAs winter meeting in Seattle on Feb. 11, the Chicago-based associations House of Delegates voted to endorse proposed federal legislation requiring plaintiffs to meet certain medical standards before suing for asbestos-related injuries, with 70 percent favoring the measure.
The ABA's surprising support for the standards is intended to block suits by people who have been exposed to asbestos but have not exhibited any symptoms, while permitting suits by those who are now ill.
"One could liken the situation to saying a person infected with HIV through a tainted transfusion should have no legal rights unless she contracts AIDS," noted Mary E. Alexander, president of Washington, D.C.-based ATLA in a statement.
Ms. Alexander also said that the ABA should not be in the business of reaching medical conclusions and assuming the roles of doctor, jury and judge.
A plaintiffs' attorney who has handled cases resulting from asbestos dust emanating from a W.R. Grace and Co. mine in Libby, Mont., supported Ms. Alexander's viewpoint. Roger Sullivan of the Kalispell, Mont.-based firm McGarvey Heberling Sullivan contends that the ABA's stance compounds the suffering of people who were exposed to asbestos by taking away their right to sue.
But, according to ABA president-elect Dennis Archer, courts are overwhelmed with claims by people who have been exposed to asbestos but are not sick yet.
People who are currently ill are sometimes "dying before they have their day in court," Mr. Archer said in an ABA press statement.
Charles Gfeller, a defense attorney with Edwards & Angell LLP's insurance and reinsurance practice group in Hartford, Conn., who has litigated many asbestos cases, agrees that medical standards are a good idea.
"There are so many lawsuits where there aren't any injuries," Mr. Gfeller said. "You've got to get some sanity back. This is a huge issue because it has caused companies to go bankrupt and has required insurers to drastically increase their asbestos loss reserves," he said.
Insurance trade groups find themselves in the strange position of being bedfellows with the ABA.
"This is a great sign," said Gary Karr, a representative of the Washington, D.C.-based American Insurance Association. "The American Bar Association is the nation's most influential group of lawyers. The vote signals the need for reform, and soon."
(See page 28 for the perspective of the Downers Grove, Ill.-based Alliance of American Insurers.)
Congress is expected to consider legislation establishing asbestos medical standards shortly.
Steven Brostoff contributed to this story
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, February 17, 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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