Washington–Opponents of the asbestos litigation reform bill said as the Senate prepares to adjourn for its August break they are encouraged that support for the legislation seems to be flagging.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Thomas O'Brien, chairman of the Coalition for Asbestos Reform (CAR), a group including insurers and other business interests, victims and government activists, will mount an advertising campaign for their cause this week.
The measure CAR is fighting would create a $140 million trust fund to handle asbestos claims in place of court action.
"We may disagree on many aspects of the problem, but there are a couple of things we do agree on," Mr. O'Brien said. The first, he explained, is that there is a severe asbestos crisis that needs to be resolved. The second, he added, is that the bill, known as S. 852, "spells disaster" for small businesses and victims.
Mr. O'Brien said that because of the burdens the bill could impose on small businesses, many of whom have already planned and funded their asbestos liabilities, those companies would be wiped out instantly should the bill be made law.
As an example, Mr. O'Brien read a statement from David Lascell, co-owner of Rochester, New York-based Hopeman Brothers, which provides interiors for ships. The company, Mr. Lascell said in his statement, would be required under the bill to pay a minimum of $16.5 million into the asbestos trust fund annually for thirty years.
"Hopeman Brothers has never earned $16.5 million in profit in any single year and we don't expect to," Mr. Lascell said in his statement. "Therefore, we would have absolutely no choice but to liquidate the company immediately upon enactment of this bill."
Linda Reinstein, executive director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, said that those the fund is supposed to be helping would also suffer due to the costs of showing that they qualify medically for compensation.
Examination costs, she said, would be shifted entirely to the victims. Additionally, Ms. Reinstein said the inevitable challenges to the legislation would leave asbestos victims without any assistance.
"The expected constitutional challenges, as cited during the Judiciary hearings, will guarantee inordinate victims' compensation delays," she said. Meanwhile, innocent asbestos victims will be left in legal limbo for years with no help from the fund and unable to take their case back to court."
Mr. O'Brien said that CAR is taking its opposition to the bill public, starting with an ad campaign that will run in the Washington, D.C. market throughout the final week before the Senate's August recess.
The asbestos litigation bill has been championed by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and is set to move to the full Senate after being approved by that panel. Mr. O'Brien said, however, that opponents of the bill should be excited by the comments some members of the Judiciary committee included in the committee's report on the bill, which he said captured every criticism opponents had of the bill.
"When we talk to people on the Hill, we find very thin support" for the bill, he said. However, he also said, "We do not underestimate the abilities of Sen. Arlen Specter to move this bill forward expeditiously, although he's running out of time."
The bill also has its share of supporters, most notably from the business community. Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers, said the organization was "still hopeful" about getting the legislation passed.
"Although the whole process is not without a few well-publicized hurdles, Sen. Specter continues to perform above and beyond the call of duty," he said, adding that the group is still pressing for support to make the bill "filibuster-proof," which would require 60 senators.
Insurance groups have had strong reservations about the bill, arguing that it does not completely guarantee that all asbestos claims will be covered within the trust.
"The fund has to accomplish the goals that it said it would," said Dennis Kelly, a spokesman for the American Insurance Association. Although the current bill does not meet that standard, Mr. Kelly said that the AIA was "still engaged" in the process and would work to resolve the problems with the bill.
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