Asbestos Defendants See Courts Turn In Their Favor
By Steve Tuckey
NU Online News Service, Feb. 11, 12:19 p.m. EDT?Mississippi and Illinois, once viewed as good venues to bring an asbestos lawsuit, are losing their plaintiff-friendly atmosphere and giving such cases far greater scrutiny, according to industry groups.[@@]
Both a litigation reform organization and an insurer trade association said they were encouraged by a number of events.
In Mississippi, they said, passage of tort reform measures and the re-election of a conservative court resulted in several judicial orders last year that could result in thousands of asbestos claims being dismissed.
The Mississippi Supreme Court in 2004 scaled back its joinder rule. As a result, three trial court judges ordered plaintiffs to supply details for each claim, including where they live, where and when they were exposed to asbestos, and where the defendants reside.
Mississippi has mass torts, which are somewhat analogous to class action suits, and the joinder rules determine what plaintiffs can be part of a suit.
In 2002 and 2003 the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) dubbed the Mississippi judicial circuit a "judicial hellhole." Earlier this year it praised the same circuit.
Julie Pulliam, with the Washington-based American Insurance Association, said, "The Mississippi rulings have encouraged the industry that the state is well on its way to losing its reputation as one of the worst civil justice systems in the county."
On Jan. 29 in Madison County, Ill., another venue once tagged as a "judicial hellhole" by ATRA, Circuit Judge Daniel J. Stack dismissed 25 asbestos lawsuits by plaintiffs who never lived or worked in the state.
Last October when Judge Stack was put in charge of the Circuit Court's asbestos cases he had written that the filing fees from such out-of-state suits made them "cash cows" for Madison, noting that, "The problem with this is that it is not the function of the courts to make money. This is not a business."
Judge Stack's decision was "a clear signal that the lucrative asbestos litigation industry in Madison County is changing," reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had previously highlighted Madison as a national center for asbestos cases.
According to the Post-Dispatch more than 1,000 asbestos claims settled for over $1 billion were filed in Madison County in 2003, mostly by persons who had never lived or worked in Illinois.
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