Supporters Sweat Over Ohio Asbestos Laws Fate
Ohio's landmark asbestos litigation abatement law is under siege, with insurance industry and business supporters sweating out an effort by trial lawyers to put the measure before the state's voters in November.
Supporters of the proposed referendum, which would overturn the new law, have until Sept. 2 to gather 193,000 valid signatures on a petition to put the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Those who back the law are concerned that in the short term getting the referendum on the ballot would delay the law's implementation, while in the long term voters may cast it aside, thus widening industry and insurer liability.
The law, signed June 3 by Gov. Bob Taft, makes Ohio the first state striving to give priority to the truly sick by requiring minimum objective medical criteria to be met before an asbestos lawsuit can be filed. Claimants unable to demonstrate actual asbestos-related impairment will have their cases dismissed. They may re-file, however, should an impairing condition later develop.
The state also passed a bill relating to silica lawsuits judged to be the next big profit center for plaintiffs' lawyers but that bill is not subject to the referendum.
At this point, the industry is monitoring any signature-gathering that is occurring, said Steve Schneider, the American Insurance Association's regional vice president for the Midwest. He said that to his knowledge, the lawyers "haven't started getting signatures yet. At the moment, this is a conceptual problem, not a practical one."
But Jeffrey Junkas, director of public affairs for AIA's Midwest region, said the issue has broader implications. "This provides a blueprint for other states to take protective action, especially in light of the stalemate in Washington on legislation dealing with the issue," he said.
He added that at the moment, supporters of state action "are just focusing on the Ohio referendum. But if there is a win here, I'm sure our industry and our coalition will look to other states to try to have similar success."
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, August 12, 2004. Copyright 2004 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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